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 Jeter will play his last regular season home game in the Bronx on
Thursday in what is sure to be an emotional night for a player about
to take his place in the pantheon of Yankee greats alongside Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.
Beyond Jeter's all-round on-field ability, the 14-time All-Star is
admired for the way he played the game, how he carried himself and
the dignity with which he represented the sport.
Some consider the classy shortstop not only the face of the New York
Yankees, but of all Major League Baseball.
"He is the walking example of what's good in baseball," said
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, former skipper of New
York's bitter rivals, the Red Sox.
Jeter, 40, played in the shadow of splashier figures of the day
including Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Yankees teammate Alex
Rodriguez, who dominated attention as they set or threatened
cherished home run records.
But while they all fell from grace through association with
performance enhancing drugs, Jeter's steady, honest brilliance
endeared him to fans.
Unlike the sluggers, Jeter was not known for blasting prodigious
home runs from the middle of the order.
Jeter won five World Series with an uncanny consistency, both at the
plate and at shortstop, and with rock-solid leadership as the
franchise's longest-reigning captain with an 11-year tenure.
He has a career batting average of .309 over more than 11,000
regular season at-bats, and hit at a .308 clip in the postseason
with an MLB record 200 hits, 72 more than the next-best on the list.
Jeter seemed to treat every at-bat the same, refusing to buckle or
press under pressure. He will retire at the end of this his 20th
season sixth on MLB's all-time hits list.
"I think the most amazing thing about Derek is his ability to relax
in every moment," said manager Joe Girardi. "No matter what the
situation is, he's always been able to relax."
CAPTAIN'S HEROICS
Jeter, whose even-tempered demeanor never wavered on the field or in
the clubhouse, often rose to the occasion in critical times earning
him the nickname "Captain Clutch."
With the Yankees facing elimination in their 2001 Division Series
and holding a 1-0 seventh-inning lead against the Oakland A's, Jeter
made what is known as "The Flip."
Jeter dashed across the diamond to corral a wayward throw from the
outfield and made a backhand flip on the run to catcher Jorge Posada
who tagged out a stunned Jeremy Giambi, who figured he did not have
to slide into the plate. The Yankees advanced.
In a series against the rival Red Sox in 2004, Jeter raced after a
12th inning pop up behind third base, and with no regard to safety,
caught it near the stands on the dead run and went flying head first
into the seats.
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Jeter, a five-time Gold Glove winner for fielding, emerged bloodied
and bruised with cuts on his face, but with the ball in what came to
be called "the Dive."
Jeter earned another moniker during the 2001 World Series - "Mr
November."
The postseason started later than usual because of a stretch of
games scrubbed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
When the clock crossed midnight during Game Four of the World Series
against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it became the first MLB game ever
played in November. Moments later Jeter smacked a 10th-inning,
walk-off home run for a victory and a new nickname.
Jeter rose again majestically in 2011 when he homered for his
3,000th career hit in a game in which he further enthralled Yankee
Stadium fans by going 5-for-5 including a game-winning single
against Tampa Bay in the eighth inning.
KALAMAZOO RAISED
Jeter's parents have cheered him on from a Yankee Stadium suite and
they can be proud of their own role in instilling such
self-assurance in their son.
His father, Sanderson Charles Jeter, Ph.D., a substance abuse
counselor, is African American. His mother, Dorothy, who is an
accountant, is of Irish and German descent. They met while serving
in the U.S. Army in Germany.
The green-eyed Jeter grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was drafted
by the Yankees out of high school with the sixth draft pick of 1992.
He made his major league debut in 1995 and took over at shortstop as
the 1996 Rookie of the Year, helping the Yanks win their first World
Series in 18 years.
The Yankees reached the postseason in his first 13 seasons and 17
times overall.
"Everybody wants to be a home run hitter and get the glory. He was a
table setter. He made things happen,” said Hall of Famer Dave
Winfield.
"You’re going to see the end of an era. A guy who played at the top
of his game for a long time for a winning organization and came
through when it counted. You won’t see it again in this generation."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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