As most of you know Derek Jeter
is closing in on 3,000 career hits. As of today he has 2,993 hits and the Yankees have four more home games this week before going out to Chicago to play the Cubs.While I know most of you dislike the Yankees for various reasons, I'm not sure I can really see how someone can dislike Derek Jeter
. He has played the game the right way, he has kept out of trouble his entire career, his personal like was and is always private, and he respects both the game and the franchise's history.My question to you this week is more like a small paragraph than a question type of thing.
I would like to know what you think of Derek Jeter
as a player and his career. Is he the one Yankee you can enjoy watching and/or respect what he has done for the team and for his own stats?Sound off.
I post this as we are driving down the road to washington dc. Derek Jeter is the epitome of a hall of fame player. In 2009, we were lucky enough to watch him play in the new stadium. It is one ballgame I know I nor my family will ever forget.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't think much about Jeter. I wonder how popular he would be if he was the exact same player, but with the Pirates or Expos/Nats his whole career. Players like him who stayed their career with one team that wasn't as popular as the Yankees (like Brett and Yount) don't receive as much hype and respect, though they put up 3000-hit careers and overall similar numbers. But on the same thought, if he had played for a smaller-market team he wouldn't have received as much hatred for simply being a Yankee.
ReplyDeleteAll that said and done, of any Yankee I can think of in the past 20 years, he would probably be the one I would most likely end up collecting.
George Brett was the player I collected as a kid, believe it or not. I didn't care what team he played on, I just loved watching him play and he played third base very well which is where I played as a kid. Brett and Boggs were my all-time favorite third basemen.
ReplyDeleteNot sure anyone would discount what Yount or Brett did, and if they do... well then, they obviously don't know how hard it is to achieve what those guys were able to.
Derek Jeter has had a tremendous career & certainly is worthy of praise & respect. Without question, fans of other teams would love to have had him in their teams uniform all these years. I can appreciate & enjoy watching Jeter play - like I do when I watch Mariano Rivera. Those two are genuinely great & represent the two Yanks that I tip my cap to. They comport themselves with dignity & class and the professional way they conduct themselves on-field & off is commendable.
ReplyDeleteReally, the only thing that's irksome is the uniform & all of the 'Yankee Aura' stuff that's foisted upon the masses. Shambolic Gold Glove Awards & things like that tend to leave people a little cold. But of course, all that peripheral stuff has zero to do with Jeter the player - who again, is pretty great & should be lauded & celebrated.
I look forward to seeing #3000. It's a hell of an acheivement.
As a Red Sox fan, Derek Jeter joins Bernie Williams as the only two Yankees I will ever "like".
ReplyDeleteI admit, it's a little difficult to separate Jeter the person from Jeter the player I just want to go away. After all, it's not his fault that he's the second most overrated player on the Yankees. That being said, he's an admitted cheater. So, not sure how I can respect his game. He's an admitted liar, so not sure I can respect him as a person. And, that glaring fist pump after any win is just plain annoying. So I'm going to say that, no, I don't enjoy watching him.
ReplyDeleteInteresting question that got me thinking. Like Ryan said, I too don't think much about Jeter. I echo Ryan's thoughts. As for his likeability, yeah, he is a likeable guy with incredible talent. I guess I can say I am apathetic towards him though because I don't follow/like the Yankees. That's not to say I am not rooting for him to get to 3,000 hits, or that I am not happy he will get there. To me, he is just another Yankee, and he joins the ranks of so many Yankees with many remarkable career accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteI am a die-hard Cleveland Indian fan and I really don't hate the Yankees.At least not the players.I respect Jeter for staying with the same team,but any other team may have not been able to pay him enough to stay.If I collected all super star players and potential HOF'ers, he would be near the top of my list.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Red Sox fan too, so Jeter started really low on my list. He's slowly climbed up the list of respect over the past 10 or so years though, past a number of other Yankees including guys like Wade Boggs who actually played for the Sox. He's still not in the same class as Mariano Rivera or Bernie Williams though, and probably won't ever be there.
ReplyDeleteBut to his credit, I'd choose him over ARod 11 times out of 10.
I was a fan of Boggs long before he was a Yankee and I used to take so much crap for it as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI would have respected and loved Boggs just the same if he never was a Yankee. There are many players I like regardless of their team, but because of the way they play the game.
Up until this season when Russ was traded to the Yankees, 3 of my 4 player collections were not Yankees.
In a word: overrated. He's essentially Craig Biggio, except Jeter just happened to play for the big budget Yankees. That's not a bad thing, but given the massive media hype machine that exists around everything Yankees and Red Sox, he just gets far more adoration, hatred, and attention than he deserves. I wouldn't ever think to bring up his name in a discussion of the 25, or possibly even 50, greatest players of all time.
ReplyDeleteI don't Like Jeter. The media has given him a pretty boy image and will let nothing tarnish it. There is also the fact that he is seriously overrated.
ReplyDeleteThat said I do respect him more than any other yankee except Bernie Williams.
Oh and since nobody else has mentioned it,I will he has one extremely hot girlfriend. (that fact put him at #2 on the respected yankee list over Rivera)(once she dumps him he goes back to #3)
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ReplyDeleteI think Jeter's the best-case scenario for MLB franchises, Yankees or otherwise. He's provided more than enough highlights for title-winners, remained a dependable guy at the plate for almost two decades, and most of the things people criticize (contract $, limited field range, loss of power) come with the territory when you're a successful, aging player.
ReplyDeleteWhen his New York playing days do end, I hope Jeter stays with the organization as a coach or front-office guy, rather than stringing it out somewhere else.