Derek Jeter

Wow, that was exciting to watch!



(For anyone not watching, he hit a HR on a 3-2 count for his 3000th).



Julie

A quick story while I still sit here on the pleasurable high of watching this game.

I had a family friend when I was ten years old who had been friendly with Scott Brosius, who was playing 3b for the Yankees at the time. One of Brosius's kids was sick for a game, so he asked if my family friend wanted the tickets. He said sure, and invited myself and my father. The game was a regular season Subway Series game at Shea Stadium, and we showed up to the game surprised to find out that the tickets were in the players' family section. So we assumed our position in our seats...right behind home plate, along with the other families.

We were as polite and respectful as we could be, and were just enjoying the game. I spent time talking to some of the children of the other players. Around the 7th inning, my dad turned around and got the attention of the couple sitting two seats behind us. I got very nervous because I had been insisting that he shouldn't try to talk to them, but he did anyway. He turned to the couple and said, "I don't really want to bother you guys because I know you're just here watching the game. But I just have one question. How do you raise a kid to become that?" And when he said that, he pointed out towards shortstop. The couple looked at each other and smiled. The woman, whose name I later learned was Dorothy Jeter, responded..."We've been listening a bit to your conversations with your son here. You're doing just fine."

Needless to say, I was on Cloud 9. I wore #2 every chance I could get on any team I was on, through Little League and beyond. I used to say it was unfortunate that I was lefty because I couldn't play shortstop and be Derek Jeter, the only thing I could do was wear his number and try to act and play the game just like him.

And Jeter seizing the moment and totally focused has followed with two more hits making him 4 for 4 so far!

Make that 5 for 5 with the game winning hit! Now that's doing things in style.

I would trade places with him just to date the women he has. Look it up.

But then again I'm married to the best gal there is and can't hit.

I hate the Yankees.
I respect the Yankees.
I LOVE Derek Jeter.

I wouldn't have guessed he was the first Yankee to 3000. That makes this even more amazing.

Good stuff JH. I recorded the game so my son can watch it after he comes back from Georgia.

Can never script that better!

cball, I'm married to his #1fan

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"Around the 7th inning, my dad turned around and got the attention of the couple sitting two seats behind us. I got very nervous because I had been insisting that he shouldn't try to talk to them, but he did anyway."

Well J H, see what you can learn by going to a baseball game? If your dad hadn't the curiosity and friendliness to turn around and seek an answer, then the basis for one of your most endearing baseball anecdotes would have never happened.

Many of the the most interesting and captivating stories would go untold or undiscovered if not for someone being inquisitive. Please thank your dad for being that someone that day at Shea. You actually learned quite a lot sitting in the stands during that game.

Derek's folks are very nice, gracious, and observant.

Instead of an embarrassment, your dad proved to be anything but.

Your father was teaching you the value of being friendly and inquisitive.

At a tender age you gained some wisdom from the experience. The evidence of this is in your writing.

Your sharing has prompted me to offer up a couple of Derek Jeter stories as well.

Several years ago our two sons were in a baseball tournament in Kalamazoo hosted by the Kalamazoo Maroons. This is the travel organization that Derek had played for. The tournament director and coach of the Maroons, Mike Hinga, had coached Derek. Coach Hinga is a top notch guy. My few encounters and friendly conversations with Coach Hinga left a very favorable impression in my mind. I can't imagine they get much better than him and after getting to know Coach Hinga, even just only briefly, it is absolutely no wonder that Derek turned out to be the great player and person who he is after having been coached by Coach Hinga. Derek, in one of his autobiographies, paid Coach Hinga, the highest compliment and it was something like this: "Out of all of the coaching I've had in my baseball career, Coach Hinga has taught me the most." A great coach, a great player. A great combination. No surprise.

One of the fields that was being used in the tournament was at Kalamazoo Central High School, the school where Derek attended and played ball. A beautiful field thanks in part to a generous gift of money from Derek. Like J H's dad, I'm curious, so at that field I spent a fair amount of my time talking to the folks from the opposing team. They weren't the Maroons, but they were local and knew all of the lore. From them I learned about Derek's gift to his old high school and I also learned something about these high school stats of Derek's (from Wikipedia)...

Batting averages of .557 as a sophomore and .508 as a junior.

As a senior, he batted .508; had 23 runs batted in, 21 walks, four home runs, and 12 stolen bases (in 12 attempts); and struck out only once.

What the folks told me was Derek was so focused on becoming a shortstop for the New York Yankees right out of high school that he used only a wooden bat in all of his high school games. Those stats...with wood!

A couple of the dads were familiar with the neighborhood around the field and they pointed out a small, modest, wood framed house that was situated with its backyard adjacent to the athletic fields. It was the house that Derek's family lived in while he was in elementary school. According to these two dads, when the Jeter family sold the home the new owners discovered this scrawled on a wall in one of the basement rooms: 'Derek Jeter New York Yankees shortstop'. Was this really written on the wall by a young Derek
Jeter? I believe it.



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I'm going to borrow biggerpapi's post, because this is complicated to explain.

quote:

I hate the Yankees.
I respect the Yankees.
I LOVE Derek Jeter.

This is a difficult thing for me to express because it is illogical. I despise the Yankees. I respect and admire Derek Jeter for his accomplishments, competitiveness and attitude. For me, Jeter is the face of the Yankees. So, if he is the face of the Yankees how can I despise them. See, it is illogical! I'm going to need some therapy on this one to figure it out.......

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Take the staircase to your right!




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Here's a pretty good article...

http://www.thepostgame.com/blo...reatest-yankees-ever

I would put Berra above Jeter but it is a small point. I think Mariano Rivera and Paul O'Neil also deserve consideration.

CD- I don't know about O'Neill. He was a great player and certainly a favorite in New York, but I wouldn't classify him in the same class as the people in the article. If you consider O'Neil, would you consider Bernie and Posada and Tino as well?

Mariano is a no-brainer in my opinion. One of the best pitchers to ever live.

That top six is fine butsomehow, Mariano Rivera has to be in there somewhere.

Without Rivera, Yanks don't win those 5 titles including the year he set up for Wetteland. Rivera has been a Yankee MVP for the last 16 years.

Jeter a great player and just plain gets it being what a ballplayer should be, handling himself in a tough place like NY, especially the Yankees. One of the most clutch player there is and quite often, was usually in the middle of great things.

Even though he's slippped a bit the last couple of seasons, who's surprised that his 3,000th would be a homer. Somehow, Jeter always seizes the moment whether it'a a series-shifting momentum play in the post-season or whatever.

There might be players with better stats but Jeter's post-season statistics rival any of the game's greats.

The bigger the game, the bigger the performance..That's Jeter.

About the only thing negative sabout Jeter was his expectation of a huge contract after a bad year and signs he's in a decline.

Yanks have to learn from their mistakes of the mid 60s, (around 1966) when they held on to aging stars too long and were pathetic and werent competitive again until 1974. They can't make the same mistakes and hang on to these guys too long (with the exception of Moe because he still dominates)and get younger as the older guys decline.