The narrative has turned a bit in the last couple weeks, with people like Ken Davidoff and Jon Heyman bitching at the guy for everything from partaking in the Steiner Sports-ification of his farewell to his spot in the lineup. And still the crowds keep coming. To me it's a bookend on a 20-year chapter in Yankee history. And the fact that the Yankees (with Jeter's help) are trying to squeeze every penny out of it they can may be lamentable but it is sports today. The sportswriters can preen and bitch all they want but Jeter was the face of the franchise without causing it embarrassment for two decades. Nobody else can say that. He had a huge role in each of those rings, and in keeping them competitive year in and year out for his entire career.
As for the on-field play, until very recently Jeter's position near the top of the lineup was not as absurd as people claimed. Nobody on the team was hitting, his OBP was top 3 or so on the team until his August. And by the time he clearly hit the skids and they had a viable alternative in Prado they were as much in "sell tickets" mode as they were trying to make up the lengthy gap in the standings. And whatever improvement Drew or Brendan Ryan gave you defensively at SS, neither was hitting as well as Jeter in all but the worst of his slump.
Right now Jeter is doing what he is supposed to do. He is going out there, getting his 4-5 ABs, and moving a ton of merchandise and tickets. Jeter is not the reason they're going to sit October out, the fact that he was their best hitting infielder this season is.
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Teixeira even with his .220 average was still a decent bit better. Jeter had as empty of a .250 average as you'll ever see
Amen. AND, I hate brown bat barrels.
Agreed with the OP.
YAY ROD
Jeter just hasn't been the kind of player who's numbers scream for a league wide hummer, like Mo's did.
Great player, iconic Yankee and the captain of a dynasty.
But some of this shit has been out of control..
I've very much enjoyed his career, his way of doing business and the era he represented. But he wasn't some player who transcended the sport.
He may be an egomaniac and sometimes insufferable, but he is far from a "gump." He is very eloquent and intelligent-- he just never lets the viewer forget it.
I understand where Olbermann is coming from. He is a baseball fanatic and historian and thinks that the attention to and idolizing of Jeter gives short shrift to the legends of the past who were more dominant in their eras.
Olbermann isn't wrong regarding most of his analysis about Jeter, but by going for the jugular, he misses the bigger picture about what Jeter means to a lot of Yankees fans-- and to many baseball fans who view him as a bright spot during an era of many tarnished superstars.
Jeter just hasn't been the kind of player who's numbers scream for a league wide hummer, like Mo's did.
Great player, iconic Yankee and the captain of a dynasty.
But some of this shit has been out of control..
I've very much enjoyed his career, his way of doing business and the era he represented. But he wasn't some player who transcended the sport.
I love Mo, but in a given year he faced what, 250 batters? He played defense for one inning a game. Nobody was as classy and as understated as he was, nor as dominant in his role, but that role is not the same as playing probably the 2nd most important position on the diamond and being a top of the order bat for two decades.
I see two basic reasons why Rivera's farewell tour came off so much better than Jeter's:
1) It came first.
2) Rivera is revered as much for his good works off the field as for his performance on it.
Fairly or not, Jeter hasn't made the same impression outside the lines, aside from his dating habits. Beyond the Yankee fan base, Jeter is mostly respected (aside from a minority of contrarian, WAR-stat-quoting grumps); Rivera is loved, even by lots of people who are completely indifferent to the Yankees, or to baseball itself.