A Sure Hall of Famer---Even Today
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by user LouGehrig
A Certain Hall of Famer
Harold Friend
Derek Jeter will be a member of the Hall of Fame five years after the end of his career. At the age of 32, Jeter is still going strong and is putting together one of his best seasons in 2006. Jeter has been consistently great from the first year he became the Yankees' shortstop and even if one were to evaluate Jeter's accomplishments based solely on what has occurred, he is a Hall of Famer.
Derek Jeter was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1996. He is the greatest shortstop in Yankees' history, which is quite an accomplishment since Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto played for the Yankees from 1941 until 1956, not including the 1943-1945 seasons, when Phil did his part to help preserve freedom and democracy. Now logic is not a strong suit of many in the media and certainly of many fans, but if Phil Rizzuto is in the Hall of Fame and Derek Jeter surpasses the Scooter as a great player, then---well, you get it.
Including the 2006 season, Jeter has a lifetime .316 batting average, a .388 on base average, and a .463 slugging average. He averages 33 doubles, 5 triples, 18 home runs, 81 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases a season, is a fine fielder who has great range going to his left but only average range moving towards his right, and has helped lead the Yankees to four World Championships. While his statistics are outstanding for a shortstop, statistics are inadequate when evaluating Derek Jeter.
A term that is bandied about but cannot be adequately defined is "clutch hitter." To some, attempting to define a clutch hitter is similar to trying to define pornography. In 1964, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stuart, trying to explain pornography, said, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it . . . ." Yogi Berra was a clutch hitter. David Ortiz is a clutch hitter. Derek Jeter is a clutch hitter.
When analyzing Derek Jeter, one must cite his leadership qualities, his attitudes toward the game, his attitudes toward his teammates, and his attitudes toward the opposition. It is a known fact that Jeter puts his team ahead of his personal achievements. Of greatest importance is his unquenchable desire to win regardless of cost. Derek Jeter is one of the outstanding competitors in the game's history.
Mel Allen, the greatest of the great baseball announcers, used to refer to certain players as "great competitors." In the 1952 World Series, Allie Reynolds, one of the best right handed pitchers in Yankees' history, started and lost Game 1 to Brooklyn's Joe Black. Three days later, on TWO days rest, Reynolds and Black started Game 4 for their respective teams with Reynolds pitching a 2-0, 10 strikeout complete game shut. After getting the next day off, Reynolds saved Game 6 in relief of Vic Raschi and then came in the next day in the fourth inning of Game 7, pitched another 3 innings, and was the winning pitcher. More than a few times during that Series, Mel Allen referred to Reynolds as a "great competitor." So is Derek Jeter.
Jeter is a relentless and driven competitor who loves what he is doing. Does pressure affect Derek Jeter? You bet it does. He relishes when he is in game deciding situations but there is more. Unlike many, failing or succeeding in one such situation does not affect Jeter when the next situation arises. He is steady, reliable, and unlike one of Billy Joel's works, Jeter does not go to extremes.
Winning the playoffs is important, but winning the World Series is more important. Overall, Jeter's October and November accomplishments reflect his career achievements. He has a .307 World Series batting average with a .379 on base average, 3 home runs, and a .434 slugging average. Only 3 home runs? Yes, but statistics do not tell the entire story because often quality and not quantity make the difference.
Jeter's great play in the 2001 playoff series against the A's. the play when he ran to the first base foul line, is recited ad infnitum when discussing the Yankees' shortstop. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Yankees leading 1-0, Jason Giambi's brother Jeremy singled to put the tying run on first. Despite being a slow runner, Giambi was allowed to run the bases because A's manager Art Howe had decided that he would not pinch run for Giambi unless he reached second base. Unfortunately for the A's, when Giambi reached second base, the rules did not allow a pinch runner.
The batter was Terence Long, a former Mets outfielder who would play for the Yankees in 2006. Long hit a hard ground ball past Yankees' first baseman Tino Martinez into the right field corner. Giambi rounded second, headed for third, and was waved home by third base coach Ron Washington. Right fielder Shane Spencer fired the ball toward home plate as Giambi rumbled to reach the same place. Spencer's throw sailed over cut off man Alfonso Soriano as well as over Tino Martinez, who was backing up the future Washington Nationals All Star outfielder. It seemed as if Giambi would deliver the run that would tie the game. Except for Derek Jeter being where no man in such a situation had gone before.
Jeter, who had been near the pitcher's mound where he was supposed to be on such a play so that he could be in place to make any necessary adjustments, did just that. He raced toward the first base line, caught the throw that had sailed over the head of two cut off men on a bounce, using two hands, and kept moving in the direction of the Yankees' dugout. There was only one option and Jeter took it. He flipped the ball to an alert catcher Jorge Posada, who caught the ball, whirled around, and tagged out Giambi, who never slid. The Yankees, who were down two games to none in the best of five series, went on to win the series.
Yes, it was a great play, and it led to a pennant, but the previous year, in a much more crucial Series, Jeter was an even more clutch performer. The Yankees were leading the 2000 World Series, three games to one over New York's other team. While it is better to be leading three games to one than trailing three games to one, nothing must ever be taken for granted. Ask the 1925 Senators, the 1958 Braves, the 1979 Orioles, or the 1985 Cardinals.
In the top the sixth inning, with the Yankees trailing 2-1, Jose Vizcaino led off by grounding out to pitcher Al Leiter. Derek Jeter stepped up to face the crafty former Yankees' left hander and extended his World Series consecutive game hitting streak to fourteen games by hitting a Leiter pitch for a game tying home run. The Yankees won the game with a ninth inning rally and Jeter was voted the Series' Most Valuable Player, becoming the first and only player to be World Series and All-Star MVP in the same season.
There have been bad times for Derek Jeter. He got only 4 hits in 27 at bats for a miserable .148 batting average in the 2001 World Series and he hit only .200 against the Red Sox in the 2004 seven game playoff series, but all players have had bad times. Derek Jeter does not want the bad times. Who does? But he doesn't sulk, and he doesn't allow yesterday's negatives prevent today's positives from occurring.
Jeter does quite well when compared to other Hall of Fame shortstops. Honus Wagner set the standard and no shortstop can approach Wagner's greatness, but there is a great drop off after Wagner. The following is a list of all Hall of Fame shortstops and some important lifetime statistics:
PLAYER BA OBA SA SB RBI FA
Aparicio .262 .311 .343 506 791 .972
Appling .310 .399 .398 179 1116 .948
Bancroft .279 .355 .358 145 591 .941
Banks .274 .330 .500 20 1636 .969
Cronin .301 .390 .468 87 1424 .951
Reese .269 .366 .377 232 885 .962
Rizzuto .273 .351 .355 149 563 .968
Sewell .312 .391 .413 74 1055 .951
Smith .262 .337 .328 580 793 .978
Tinker .262 .308 .353 336 782 .938
Vaughn .318 .406 .453 118 926 .951
Wagner .327 .391 .466 722 1732 .940
Yount .285 .342 .430 271 1406 .964
JETER .316 .388 .463 244 848 .975
Only Honus Wagner and Arky Vaughn have higher batting averages than Jeter and only Ozzie Smith has a higher fielding average. Interesting, isn't it? And one must not forget that Derek Jeter will play a while longer. Anyone think he isn't among the top shortstops of all time?
References:
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jeter_Derek.stm
http://library.findlaw.com/2003/May/15/132747.html
http://www.baseball-reference.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jeterde01.shtml
http://www.all-baseball.com/bronxbanter/archives/012058.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/45
Date
Fri 09/08/06, 8:55 am EST
