I respect Jeter as a person and as a player, but the media circus and pomp and circumstance around his last year has gotten way out of hand. The Kansas City Royals had a freaking Derek Jeter night. I'm sure your not familiar with the bad blood and history between the Yankees and Royals, but back in the day before free agency destroyed the game, the Royals and Yankees were major rivals. It just go to show how far removed we are from being competitive over the last 29 years that we have a special night to honor a player on a team that we once considered our most bitter rival. Just consider me a bitter Royals fan I guess.
Good Lord what is there to be bitter about. In case anyone forgets, Jeter was groomed in the Yankee farm system, he also came up with guys like Posado, Rivera and Pettite. All farm club guys. The likes which had not been assembled and played collectively in a generation. Its not like Derek Jeter had his publicist call up the royals or ESPN and set this up. The clubs did it because he was a throwback kind of guy. He played hard, stayed out of trouble and was loyal to Yankees. Yes they paid him lots of money, but when his skills declined he still stayed for less money. I mean Pujhols could have stayed a Cardinal, but he choose to chase dollars in free agency and we all have had to watch his skills decline. Had he stayed in St. Louis the same accolades would have been for him. Probably the same "farewell tour" will happen for Big Poppi when he hangs up the cleats in Boston. Not to many athletes have the opportunity and skill to stay on top, but more importantly less have the skill of knowing when to hang it up.
The difference is the Yankees could pay all those players, plus buy any other player they desired. At one point the Royals had Mike Sweeney, Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran. All of which were all-star caliber players and all came up around the same time and played together. As a small market team, the Royals were forced to let 3 out of the 4 walk because they could not afford to pay them all because they all got very large contracts. Had the Royals been in the same position as the Yankees, they would have all been retained and they could have added strong pieces to the puzzle to put together a team that could truly contend for a World Series Title. So, yeah, I'm pretty bitter about baseball not having a level playing field.
I grew up a met fan while my brother grew up a Yankee fan so Jeter was a big part of my life. Sad to see him leave but i have to respect that decision. There is talk that he will be the next person to be inducted into the hall of fame.
He's been a solid team mate for a long time like few others... I am glad he went out with a walk off.
Here's the problem though. Everyone looks at his offense, which is great. But his defense was terrible. Absolutely atrocious. He won gold gloves on name alone. Also, everyone says what a great teammate he was, but they forget that he refused to yield short to, at the time, the hands down best shortstop in the game arod..... Yes he was a great hitter, but he wasn't a saint like many make him out to be.
I'll be clear and say that I am not a Yankees fan...in fact I enjoy watching them lose. But I've always loved watching Jeter. I was rooting for them all 9 innings last night. I love baseball, I live it and follow it as closely as possible 12 months a year, and that game was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a game. When he came up in the 9th you just knew he was going to walk it off. Skywalker, bitter much man? The Royals are a dive bomb because they make bad decisions too. Gil Meche signing anyone? Trading Cecil Fielder...David Cone TWICE for pennies...Joey Bats for a career minor leaguer...Melky Cabrera for a bag of balls? I know it sucks watching that outfield be depleted, but teams are winning from building within. That's the games model, not the "Yankee Way", and I'd say you guys are doing pretty good doing so currently.
There's no doubt he's a great player, but he has had way more built in advantages than other players. I probably understated his worth because he is better than very good, but he's had the opportunity to be protected in the lineup while playing for the Yankees. Something he would not have on most teams. Had he played for most other teams, they likely wouldn't have been able to afford to pay him for his second and third contract. Small market teams have to be better at every aspect of the game just to try and compete. They have to get their draft picks right every time, they have to do a better job of scouting and player development to make up for the loss of quality players as their rookie contracts expire. The Royals finally made the playoffs after 29 years, it can't just be as simple as the Royals not being good at getting talent and developing it. Se excuse me if I don't cream my pants over a Yankee player.
I've always been a Jeter fan. A sports talk radio guy here in Minnesota slammed Jeters walk off hit all day yesterday saying he was pitched a meat ball for a good reason. Talk like that pisses me off! Give the guy his glory and enough with the jealousy already.
Pretty much sums it up... skywalker, you're angry that the Yankees have money? They've built the franchise over a lot of winning years well before " buying players". The best closer in history and one of the best SS in history were farm raised. And by the way.... look around, you think the Yankees are the only ones that "buy players"? I'm sure being the baseball expert you appear to be, you can see some of the recent contracts that have been signed that are NOT playing for the pinstripes. I swear people are naive enough to think the Yankees are the only ones with a big payroll or go buy a team. Did they buy Cano to make him stay? Did they try to buy pujlos? Fielder? Halladay? Cliff Lee? or the last 10 free agents that signed a couple hundred million dollar contracts? Look at their lineup this year......
And it doesnt' matter the team he played on. I am equally respectful of how and what Ripken did. Remarkable! The point is, it's nice in this day and age to see an athlete do it the right way and for the pure love of the sport. I can assure you Jeter doesn't want any of the media circus. He shys away from the spotlight. How can you fault a dude for what ESPN and other clubs decide to do?
I've heard some of that around here too . So; being so respected even opposing pitchers want him to succeed is a bad thing? I watched that final pitch tailing away... on the edge of the plate... didn't look like a meatball to me.
You know they say all kinds of things to either piss people off or get people to agree, it is all planned out
I think you will agree with this NYB. In the old George Steinbrenner (sp) days there's no doubt the Yankees bought players and spent more money then anyone else but times have now changed and many other clubs are spending money and doing things the way the Yankees used to. Look at the Tigers and the Dodgers, crazy high payrolls. It is what it is but I believe the competition in baseball is more equal then ever. I hated the Yankees years ago but my hatred has gone away lots as they now bring up their own players more rather then buying other peoples young talent.
The meatball thing is hilarious lol. It was a slider tailing hard on the corner/borderline off the plate.
I dont' disagree they havent' spent money or bought people. I'm just saying lets not pretend they are the only team in MLB that has or is doing it. And aside from that, it's America. If the owner wants to shell out the money instead of pocketing it to put a good team on the field for the fans then so be it. Every other team has the same opportunity to do the same.
You would think that people without anything good to say about a decent, respectful, successful individual like Derek Jeter would have the brains and class to not say anything at all if they couldn't say something nice. So it just goes to show you that brains and class are in short supply now a days ...All the more reason to give honor and respect to a man that showed honor and respect to the sport we all love and enjoy.
