the rix mix

Jeter broke the New York Yankees’ hit record held by Lou Gehrig for more than seven decades when he singled to right in the third inning Friday night. His opposite-field grounder against Baltimore gave Jeter 2,722 hits, one more than Gehrig, whose Hall of Fame career was cut short by illness in 1939.

Derek Jeter was a baseball sweetheart when he came up to the Yankees to stay in 1996 & established himself in the lineup, & won Rookie of the Year & his first World Series ring. If you saw a female wearing a Yankees pinstripe jersey, chances were it had Jeter on the back. He was young, blandly good-looking, wore nice suits, enjoyed good Manhattan restaurants, had celebrity relationships (currently Minka Kelly). Paparazzi followed him around, New York sportswriters & gossip columnists tried to turn him into Broadway Joe Namath. After awhile it became obvious Jeter never did anything interesting outside the ballpark he'd let us see, & never said anything interesting ever. He didn't boast, or speak ill of other players & teams, or make predictions.

Jeter was careful with his image. The absence of controversy earns him millions in product endorsements. But he showed he was a 100% competitor. He stayed in shape. He wanted to win. He was consistant. He never dogged it to first base on a routine fly. He became a reliable, decent shortstop, if no Ozzie Smith. If you like baseball, you like watching Derek Jeter play baseball. Year by year, he piled up the numbers. He's having one of his best seasons ever.

When I was a kid , the most famous Yankee of all time was (& still is) Babe Ruth. But the most fondly remembered old timers were Gehrig & Joe DiMaggio. Baseball nostalgia isn't my thing, not having been into the game as a kid. It has season-to-season continuity, but my interest is always current; this season, slightly detached. It wasn't difficult for me to let go of the Mets' division chances early on & still find reasons to enjoy the games, paying more attention to the Yankees. I've gotten really grumpy the past few seasons when the Mets carried me through the summer & blew it in September. This weekend's series with Philly has introduced me to the Phils' bullpen troubles, & they don't look pennant quality, much less capable of taking on the Yankees. Good batting lineup, though. As for the Yanks, well, nothing is guaranteed in postseason, nobody knows it better than Derek Jeter.

Labels: baseball, sports