He will and should be considered in the top 5 Yankees of all time, right next to Babe, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle . He is the Yankee all time leader in Games (2,602), At bats (10,614), Hits (3,136) Runs (1,876) and Stolen Bases (348). These stats should be impressive for any baseball fanatic especially the amount of great players the Yankees have had over the past 100+ years. He won the Rookie of the Year and won the World Series in the same year, he's the only player to hit a homerun as his 3,000 hit, 13 time All Star, a 5 time World Series champion, won the All Star Game MVP in 2000 5 Gold Glove Awards, 5 Silver Slugger Awards, 2 Hank Aaron Awards and a Roberto Clemente Award and many more accolades. It's hard to argue that Jeter won't be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Growing up I knew I couldn't be a shortstop because I am a lefty but watching him play made me want to play the position in pick up games. The 90s was filled with an array of amazing shortstops from Nomar Garciaparra, A Rod, Omar Vizquel, Cal Ripken Jr, Barry Larkin, Edgar Renteria. The 90s feature great talents in both the short stop and center field position, it was a great time for baseball especially since I wanted to play in the outfield. I grew up watching movies such as Major League, The Sandlot, Rookie of the Year, Angels in the Outfield, The Sandlot and most recently Moneyball. I'm glad I was around in the mid to late 90s to enjoy baseball at that peak and of course watching the Yankees win 5 Championships, I feat many fans can't say besides the Bulls and Lakers. I had the chance to meet Jeter once at the movie theaters but was too much a chicken to say anything, I remember it was after 1 PM game and my father and I were heading to watch Inside Man.
Later in his career Jeter was considered overrated when it came to his defensive stature. There were better defensive shortstops in the league especially Vizquel, A Rod and others but there are so many high light reels that he had that were unforgettable. The flip play against the Oakland Athletics, the dive play in the stands against the Red Sox in that ridiculous extra inning game. He won't be the greatest shortstop defensively if you count what he accomplished during his time, his timely hits and plays when needed to be done it's hard to argue that he wasn't the best shortstop or even player during his career. He wasn't a home run hitter but he didn't have to be, Derek hit huge home runs when they counted for the Yankees in the World Series and playoffs and if I'm correct only has one grand slam in his career. It's interesting to imagine if the Yankees would have accomplished the 5 Championships without him.
With all the steroid scandals that took place during the 00s Jeter was the white knight of the MLB. For someone to be the face of sport and not a controversy in the media city of the US is impressive. He dated many celebrities and had many endorsements from Gatorade to Nike. He lived a life many people wanted. He didn't post amazing numbers but he got the job done and had the it factor. This all sounds like biased info because I love the Yankees especially the late 90s team. With Trout, Harper, Kershaw, McCutchen and others its time for the new generation to carry the MLB. 2014 will be the year we celebrate Number 2. Here's hoping for a healthy season and a 28th World Series championship.
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