Adios El Capitan

[MFS62]

Centerfield wrote: I'm wiling to meet them halfway. If Jeter dies this year, I'm ok to reduce the waiting period to 3 years.

Depends when during the year.
But, as they used to say in my old neighborhood, it can be arranged.

Later

[Ceetar]

Centerfield wrote: I'm wiling to meet them halfway. If Jeter dies this year, I'm ok to reduce the waiting period to 3 years.

oh god no. Besides not wishing ill on people, can you imagine the ridiculous coverage? the Yankees would try to impose a 2 minute long moment of silence for every game and demand that #2 be cut into the outfield grass for every national game, including the playoffs.

[Theoldmole]

I don't want Jeter to die, I just want his reputation to be irrevocably tarnished.

I always admired Mo. I'd like his HOF ceremony not to be overshadowed by that twerp.

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: Centerfield wrote: I'm wiling to meet them halfway. If Jeter dies this year, I'm ok to reduce the waiting period to 3 years. oh god no. Besides not wishing ill on people, can you imagine the ridiculous coverage? the Yankees would try to impose a 2 minute long moment of silence for every game and demand that #2 be cut into the outfield grass for every national game, including the playoffs.

Yes , there is that, they would fly his body around the country like they did with Reagan, it would be insufferable....NBC would draft in Brokaw give us context....

[dinosaur jesus]

metirish wrote: Ceetar wrote: Centerfield wrote: I'm wiling to meet them halfway. If Jeter dies this year, I'm ok to reduce the waiting period to 3 years. oh god no. Besides not wishing ill on people, can you imagine the ridiculous coverage? the Yankees would try to impose a 2 minute long moment of silence for every game and demand that #2 be cut into the outfield grass for every national game, including the playoffs. Yes , there is that, they would fly his body around the country like they did with Reagan, it would be insufferable....NBC would draft in Brokaw give us context....

And they'd put him in a glass coffin in a special room in Yankee Stadium. And bring him out, with strings attached, for holiday specials, where he'd reenact his trademark leap through the magic of puppetry.

At least if they inducted the two of them together, it would get a lot of gushing over with at once.

[Lefty Specialist]

Wonder how many Yankee fans have already made hotel reservations for the Cooperstown area for 5 years from now?

[stevejrogers]

Best part: This is a plea to the Baseball Writers� Association of America to bend the rules. It�s been done before, so do it again. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera deserve to be inducted together into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. It�s the right thing to do. Jeter and Rivera came up through the New York Yankees organization together, won five World Series titles together with class on and off the field, and belong together on the stage in Cooperstown delivering their induction speeches on the same July day in 2019. Yes, this will require bending the rules because a player must be out of the game for five years before being on the Hall of Fame ballot. Jeter and Rivera are deservedly both first-ballot Hall of Famers, but are slated to enter the hall one year apart if chosen on their respective first ballot. So why not bend the rules? It�s been done before and for Yankee greats. Lou Gehrig � the only player on a special ballot � was elected in a special vote at the 1939 Winter Meetings because it was uncertain how much longer Gehrig would live with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis � now also known as Lou Gehrig�s Disease. Yes, we are asking the change the rules not because Jeter has a terminal illness, but so he can go in with a teammate, which would make for a nice ceremony.

Ironically due to WWII travel restrictions, Gehrig never did have a formal induction until this past year!

[Edgy MD]

Nymr83 wrote: Maybe we should induct Smoltz and Jones this summer with Maddux Glavine and Cox too? Im already sick of this. Its going to be a long year.

It's going to be a great year.

They'll spin it every way they want to, but unless he gets his hands on a barrel of steroids and somehow doesn't fail a test, the season is going to be disaster for Jeter. They'll end up replacing him with a going-nowhere journeyman, and pretend he's injured and that he's dying to get out there, but he's doing what's best for the team, but the reality will be that he's wasting their money and hurting the team.

At the end of the year, like with Willie Randolph, they'll send him out there for two teary innings, and we'll be asked to think on what might of been, and that somehow Jeter made it perfect anyway, that he really worked his ass of to be here, and played in pain.

But we'll all know the truth, that it could never have been otherwise, that he was mailing it in, and he was an millstone to his team even for those two innings.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I read in the Otsego County Enquirer that a motion will
be made at next county meeting to change the name of
Cooperstown to Derekstown. How cool would that be??

[Vic Sage]

Centerfield wrote: I'm wiling to meet them halfway. If Jeter dies this year, I'm ok to reduce the waiting period to 3 years.

maybe he can take a swim in Mariano's electrified pool! I'd be ok with Jeter going in with Mariano then, with Rivera at the podium, sobbing, wracked with guilt, and finally needing to be put down with a trank dart and carried off the stage. Now THAT'S a HOF ceremony i'd pay to see.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Frayed Knot wrote: Why even wait for Jeter to retire? Just hold a special election this weekend so we can get them both in by August.

In the waning moments of his final game, a pinstriped helicopter should set down near second base. The door would open and Reggie, Joe Torre and other living Yankees in the Hall could emerge, roll out a red carpet to the shortstop position. Derek would make a final toss to first base -- hop-skip, followed by three bounces -- then be taken by the hand to the chopper. Together, they would blow kisses to the weeping press box and ascend into the heavens, touching down in Cooperstown where an induction audience would already be assembled and plaque prepared. Actually, there is not one plaque, but two. He's Derek Jeter, and you can't list all those accomplishments on one. Everyone already enshrined in the Hall would get just a little bit better with Derek among them.

The Yankees, meanwhile, announce that they've retired the position of shortstop to relieve other players of the burden of replacing Derek Jeter. (And it's not like anything hit to short during the last couple seasons was an out anyway.)

[seawolf17]

I love that every few weeks, we get a new "my favorite thread of all time." This place is the dog's bollocks.

[Edgy MD]

I had the wrong article. I clicked the link and it took me to the front page. I searched for Jeter, and it sent me to this squishy piece.

Commentary: Derek Jeter does it his way, the right way Feb. 13, 2014

Now, see, you lose me before you're done with the title. It happens whenever somebody is described as playing the game "the right way." This allegedly objective standard is never described beforehand, and then it's demonstrated how the paragon reaches it. It's his way first, the right way second. It's the right way because it's his way. What is this? The mafia?

Written by Bob Nightengale USA Today

I like the "written by." Classy. This isn't one of them "as told by" columns.

TAMPA � Derek Jeter could have walked away whenever he wanted from the Yankees.

Or perhaps, when they got wise and stopped wasting their money on him. Like they almost did (and in retrospect, should have done) last contract. Remember all the photographs of Jetes in other uniforms, Bob? They threw Bernie Williams over the side and they would have thrown Jeter over.

It was his choice.

Yes, he's not a slave. But the reality that nobody is going to pay him very long to throw up a .542 OPS and field like a statue must've fed into a little, huh?

(By the way, how does this guy get away with the one-sentence paragraph thingie?)

If he wanted to look like a stumbling Willie Mays at the end of his career, a hobbled Mickey Mantle or an old Satchel Paige, Jeter earned the privilege to inform the Yankees when he was retiring.

OK, let's look at the last few seasons of Mays, Mantle and Jeter in terms of WAR:

Mays	Mantle	Jeter
5.2	1.8	1.8
6.3	3.5	0.9
1.8	3.9	2.2
0.0	2.6	-0.7
Retired	Retired	Active!

Which one of these guys held on for too long? Which one used his stature to keep collecting big paydays and adulation while he was hurting the team?

Your insult to Satchell Paige, who waited a lifetime to play big league ball, I won't even get into. But he was a three-war player, pitching out of the bullpen, at the end of his career!

The Yankees sensed it was coming at some point this season, but not Wednesday, not a week before their first spring training workout.

Earthworms knew it was coming. The day of the week is irrelevant. Lots of allegedly HOF-bound dudes announce their retirements in spring training. Rivera did. Guarantees the entire season focuses on you. But it's Wednesday. Oooh... way to get another one-sentence paragraph out of nothing, there.

�We�ve got to respect his decision,� Yankees President Randy Levine said.

...which we've been praying for.

If the Yankees had their druthers, Jeter would have announced his decision in front of the world in New York.

If the Yankees had their druthers, Jeter would have cashed his chips in two years ago.

Certainly, he could have saved the announcement at his annual spring training news conference in Tampa.

First of all, who edited that paragraph/sentence? He could have made the announcement at. He could have saved the announcement for.

Second of all, he has an annual spring training news conference of his own? How sad? What does he have to announce? "Hi, I'm back. I'm going to try real hard, and HEY! here are some words that rhyme with Jeter!"

Instead, he revealed his intentions in typical Jeter style.

He called a second press conference? He gave you a gift basket?

He telephoned Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner in the morning and announced it on his Facebook page Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon after his teammates had gone home from their early spring training workout.

This is typical of him, how? Did he pump his fist afterwards?

�So really it was months ago when I realized that this season would likely be my last,� Jeter wrote. �As I came to this conclusion and shared it with my friends and family, they all told me to hold off saying anything until I was absolutely 100% sure.

Note that Nightie's only two-sentence paragraph so far has been an excerpt.

�And the thing is, I could not be more sure.�

Duh.

He became absolutely certain before he even stepped onto the spring training field.

This distinguishes him from nobody ever.

�He�s been such a great Yankee, a great person, a great icon,� Levine said. �We�ve been so fortunate to watch him play and be a champion. We didn�t know what was going to happen.

Another two-sentence paragraph. Another excerpt.

�But nobody knows his body better than him, and, at the end of the day, he wants to go out on top.

On top of what? On top of whom? On top of the fawning fawns who don't want to say what's obvious? That he's got nothing left and he's leading his team toward fourth place?

�He wants to go out like Michael Jordan.�

Michael Jordan retired three times! This is nothing like that!

I don't have the basketball equivalent of WAR at my disposal, but I feel comfortable in saying that Jordan at these three junctures of his career was four times, three times, and ultimately twice the player Jeter is right now.

Unless we're talking about Michael Jordan the baseball player. Then maybe.

Jeter could have waited to see how his body responded. He�s coming off the worst year of his career. He played in 17 games because of a broken ankle and thigh injury, trying to recover from his broken ankle suffered during the 2012 playoffs.

Wow, you're really thinking hard about how to turn this into a positive, because there's a couple of sentences in that paragraph.

How about this? He already knows how his body is responding, and he knows things aren't going to get any prettier.

Now, he either believes that he�ll never be the Derek Jeter of old or fears the ankle will hinder him all season.

Like any human being. So how is this somehow a demonstration of the height of human grace?

It doesn�t really matter.

Of course it doesn't.

The end is here.

And thus, I've already taken the hemlock.

Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and now Jeter.

You forgot Steinbrenner.

Yes, it�s like Paul McCartney just sang his last song.

Don't you ever do that again EVER!

The Fab Four is over.

YOU DID IT AGAIN!

The Yankees� final regular-season game, by happenstance, will be Sept. 28 at Fenway Park.

Or, by schedulestance. I love the unspoken acceptance that the Yankees are highly unlikely to play in October.

Oh, yes, and Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have played their last game together, too.

It's like... Denny Laine and Paul McCartney!

Jeter will be honored throughout baseball just like Rivera was last year, only the pomp and circumstances will be greater. There will be sellout crowds on the road for one last glimpse. There will be tributes. Lavish gifts. Trips. And everything possible to make sure Jeter is forever remembered.

Who?

He won�t be remembered as the greatest shortstop to play the game.

I should hope not.

But he will be remembered as perhaps the classiest superstar to play this game.

Class, like the right way, has no meaning until we retrofit a meaning based on what we can glean from Jeter.

�In the 21-plus years in which I have served as commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter,� Bud Selig said in a statement.

Ripken was a bum. Tony Gwynn was a tool.

�Since his championship rookie season of 1996...

Fake homerun.

...Derek has represented all the best of the national pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his, or any, era.

The shining paragon of Michael Corleone in a family full of Sonnies.

�Derek is the kind of person that generations have emulated proudly, and he remains an exemplary face of our sport.�

Generations of the gullible.

We�re talking about one of the game�s greatest players who helped revive baseball�s most iconic franchise, winning five World Series championships, and doing it with class.

Class. Always class.

Never once did Jeter embarrass the game, the Yankees or himself.

The Yankees can not BE embarrassed. This should be clear.

Never was he involved in a scandal, not even as one of New York�s most eligible bachelors, living in a fishbowl with paparazzi waiting for a slip-up.

Never did we WRITE about it.

And never, ever, was he implicated or even whispered to be involved in the use of performance-enhancing drugs, a temptation that brought down several of his high-profile teammates, including Roger Clemens, Pettitte, Jason Giambi and, of course, A-Rod.

Let's all whisper REALLY LOUDLY that he's a suspect like any other.

He always said the right thing.

FUN?! I don't want to know about FUN! I don't UNDERSTAND fun! I don't WANT to understand!

"He always gave me vapid shit I could spin into a dream of classy nonsense," is more like it.

He always did the right thing.

Except by continuing to play shortstop when he wasn't the best option for the team, insisting on sharing shortstop with Jimmy Rollins in the WBC when Rollins was the MVP, hurting the team and HURTING AMERICA!

Except by continuing to play this year, which looks like it has a good chance to be a disaster.

He always acted the right way.

How is this different from doing the right thing?

Oh and...


Fucking classy!

�For nearly 20 years, there has been no greater ambassador to the game of baseball than Derek Jeter,� Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said. �Day in and day out, on the world�s greatest stage and through the peaks and valleys of a 162-game schedule, Derek consistently demonstrates awe-inspiring levels of passion, determination and excellence.

Awe-inspriing levels of bullshit.

Tony, I want to like you. I realize you have a job to do, but...

�A champion on and off the field, Derek�s impact cannot be understated.�

Try to understate it. For me. Or, you know, just state it. Just don't over-state it. The hyperbole serves nobody, no even Jeter, in the end.

Jeter, a no-brainer, first-ballot, perhaps even close to unanimous Hall of Famer, will be forever revered in New York just like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mantle and Rivera.

All of whom the media rolled over for.

The Yankees knew there would be a day he�d eventually have to retire.

And prayed it would come soon.

They figured there would even be a conversation this summer.

I call BS. They knew about this all winter

Sorry, but Jeter figured there was no reason for any talk.

Because you would do all the talking.

He wanted to go out on his terms.

A gaudy museum piece and an over-celebrated millstone. .

�At the end of the day,�� Levine says, �he leaves as a champion.��

Or, as an also-ran.

Was there ever any doubt?

If you can call a fourth-place part-time shortstop a champion, then no, no doubt.

[Ceetar]

That was rough.

I like the bit how we're all giddy for the start of spring training but Jeter gets there and is like "This again? Fuck..I quit."

He has an annual press conference because he's a pissy brat that wants to avoid talking to the media as much as possible. Here, I'm going to talk to you all now and leave me alone the rest of the spring will ya?

[metirish]

Sports journalists are an especially embarrassing group when it comes to fawning over players , it is as if they try to outdo the other in tripe like this.

Great breakdown Edgy

[Edgy MD]

The only really relevant part is the Mantle/Mays/Paige thing. That shit just steams my shorts.

[Frayed Knot]

"He wants to go out like Michael Jordan"

What, playing for the Wizards?
Is it even possible for a top player to go out any worse than Jordan? Well, Joe Jackson I guess, but not too many others.

[Centerfield]

CLASSY JETER RETIRES ON HIS OWN TERMS

Crane Pool Forum News - October 14, 2014
By: Centerfield

Leave it to Derek Jeter to retire the right way.

This wasn't the way you�d hoped the Captain was going to go out � announcing it with little fanfare, at the conclusion of a disappointing season that saw the Yankees miss the playoffs for a second consecutive year. But you knew, in your heart of hearts, that this was the way it was going to be. There will be no victory lap for Jeter. No six months of adulation. See, Derek Jeter has always been about the team. And to put himself at the center of attention would be, simply stated, UnJetery.

We all knew this day would come. When ultimately his fading physical talents would not be able to live up to his commitment to the team. We all knew Jeter would be the first one to tell us when he was done. Selfless player that he is.

We first saw it in 2004, when Alex Rodriguez joined the Yankees. Jeter, the consummate teammate, gave up his coveted shortstop position, his birthright, to make room for the Gold Glover Rodriguez. Yankee fans bemoaned the move, but Derek knew it was for the good of the team. And now, the good of the team dictates that Derek will hang up the uniform for good. And we in Yankeeland will have to respect that decision again.

But don't expect us to like it. As Brian Cashman explained, �We were caught off guard with his announcement (on Facebook). We wish we could have known what he was planning. We would have loved to be able to give him the proper sendoff.�

Silly Cashman. It's like you just met Derek Jeter.

So with his career now in the rear view mirror, Jeter goes down as one of the five greatest Yankees of all time, right there on their own position players� Mount Rushmore with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. He is their all-time hits and stolen base leader and though he could not be considered a power hitter, it is the home runs for which he�ll likely be most remembered: His first home run, off Dennis Martinez on Opening Day in Cleveland in 1996, that helped the Yankees beat the Indians and started him off to Rookie of the Year honors; his �Mr. November� home run off Arizona�s Byung-Hyun Kim to win Game 4 of the 2001 World Series; his 3,000th hit home run off the Tampa Bay Rays� Cy Young ace David Price in 2011, to name three.

�I just know it took Joe Torre and I only two weeks into that first spring training in �96 to know we had a shortstop,� Don Zimmer, Jeter�s mentor, was saying by phone from St. Petersburg on Wednesday. �It wasn�t any one thing. It was everything, the way he hit, the way he fielded the position, the way he threw, the way he ran and mostly just the way he carried himself. Now all these years later you think of things like this: You know how Yogi always used to say DiMaggio never made a mistake? Well, how many mistakes do you think Jeter made in his entire career? I remember one time early on, he got himself picked off second base. What does he do? He comes back to the dugout, pushes himself right between me and Torre on the bench, just to aggravate us.

So now, whether we like it or not, there will be no farewell tour. No video tributes, no waving his cap in visiting ballparks. Just the string of championships he leaves in his wake.

"I'm surprised anyone would have thought he'd do anything else." Zimmer said on Wednesday: �Nothing Derek Jeter ever does would surprise me, except if he had announced his retirement before the season. That's just not him.�

We know Don. We just wished he would have been a little selfish. Just this once.

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: "He wants to go out like Michael Jordan" What, playing for the Wizards? Is it even possible for a top player to go out any worse than Jordan? Well, Joe Jackson I guess, but not too many others.

Mark McGwire.

Sammy Sosa.

Lance Armstrong.

Marion Jones.

Pete Rose.

Danny Almonte.

Tonya Harding.

Mike Tyson.

Ben Johnson.

Dora Ratjen.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Good work in this thread. You all say what I'd say if I didn't not care so much.

[Edgy MD]

�I just know it took Joe Torre and I only two weeks into that first spring training in �96 to know we had a shortstop,� Don Zimmer, Jeter�s mentor, was saying by phone from St. Petersburg on Wednesday. �It wasn�t any one thing. It was everything, the way he hit, the way he fielded the position, the way he threw, the way he ran and mostly just the way he carried himself. Now all these years later you think of things like this: You know how Yogi always used to say DiMaggio never made a mistake? Well, how many mistakes do you think Jeter made in his entire career? I remember one time early on, he got himself picked off second base. What does he do? He comes back to the dugout, pushes himself right between me and Torre on the bench, just to aggravate us."

Best forgotten footnote in his career is that George Steinbrenner had so little faith in rookies that he not only tried to countermand Watson, Torre, and Zim in installing Jeter at shortstop, he set up a deal to send Rivera to Seattle for Felix Fermin, before Watson stood firm.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow. Think of all the gagging that could have been averted if Rivera had been traded to Seattle at that time.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Wow. Think of all the gagging that could have been averted if Rivera had been traded to Seattle at that time.

At least Safeco has that retractable roof so that people would have been able to stay dry during the inevitable soft rain showers.

[seawolf17]

A Mariners roster with Jeter/ARod/Griffey/Edgar/Unit would have won a crapton of games.

[Edgy MD]

No, it was Rivera that was going to be sent to the Mariners.

Jeter was just going to be buried behind Felix Fermin.

[nymr83]

I love that "classy" still gets used for the guy who gave gift bags to his Fuck Buddies and the use isn't even sarcastic.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

In all fairness to Mr. Soft Rain, sarcastic gift bags would probably be worse.

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: In all fairness to Mr. Soft Rain, sarcastic gift bags would probably be worse.

"Here's a signed ball from John Flaherty. This is a pencil Tanyon Sturtze used to order a pizza once in Chicago.. It's all in a reusable Trader Joes shopping bag that you need to return to my driver when you get home. He'll wait. Also bring out the numbers of any of your hot friends. no one over 27 though. I've already leafed through your wallet and will bill you $50 if you don't return the bag."

[G-Fafif]

New York and Jeter got better together, or some such muscle-pulling malarkey, via a member of Newsday's editorial board.

So Derek Jeter is set to retire, and the testimonials have begun. A season of goodbyes awaits, much like last year's long farewell to teammate Mariano Rivera. This is not another paean to Jeter's athletic legacy, which is considerable and worthy of being remembered as long as baseball is played. Nor is it a lament for the gaping void he will leave at Yankee Stadium. I'd rather focus on a different aspect of Jeter, because I always have been fascinated by the mirror he held up to New York, what it reflected and what it did not. He arrived on the scene at an interesting time. And his rise as one of the sport's greats paralleled the rebirth of the city. Jeter had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 1995 before joining the team full time in 1996. New York had been grappling with a litany of urban woes -- high crime, high unemployment and racial tension, among others -- and was beginning to emerge from some of them. Crime rates were plunging. Times Square was starting to shed its seedy past. Tourism was inching upward. Along came Jeter, who put together a Rookie of the Year season and helped lead the Yankees to their first World Series championship in 18 years. The victory energized the city and became part of its burgeoning feel-good vibe. The Yankees made it sexy to root for New York again, and no one epitomized that better than their young shortstop. He was what many New Yorkers wanted to be -- cool, classy and soon to be rich. He was someone you could depend on, someone who always did the right thing. His resiliency reflected the city's get-up-off-the-mat mentality. You always knew Jeter was going to figure it out and, whatever was needed, that's just what he was going to do. More than anything, Jeter was about the single-minded pursuit of winning. Everything else was subjugated to that one goal. That's what New York always has been about, too, for better and for worse. Finishing on top. Being the best. Having the most. Year after year, Jeter was the exemplar. In some ways, however, he was the antithesis of the city. He was not brassy or bold like Joe Namath or Walt Frazier. He didn't scream "look at me" like A-Rod or Reggie Jackson. He was intensely private and had no interest in seeing photos of him and his latest girlfriend splayed across the tabloids. He also seemed to have a healthy skepticism about his fame. A few days after the attacks of Sept. 11, Jeter and other Yankees visited an armory where families of the missing were waiting in agony for word of their loved ones. Jeter later expressed his discomfort, admitting he didn't know what to say at first. Like many of his teammates, he didn't think a baseball player would be much comfort to people in such distress. They discovered otherwise once they were there. Most of the people simply wanted to see him. Jeter said he was overwhelmed. And when rescue workers asked for his autograph, he said he felt like he should be asking for theirs because they were the real heroes. For most of the time since then, Jeter has been the Yankees' anchor, with a stature not often seen in New York. He's been his own kind of tourist attraction, a magnet drawing fans of all demographics to the South Bronx. It is no accident that the Yankees posted 17 of their top 20 season attendance figures with Jeter at shortstop. Just as the city was reborn during his tenure, so were the Yankees. A few years ago, they erected a fancy new ballpark. Its nickname tells the story: The House That Jeter Built.

[Edgy MD]

Can we look at how new wave wouldn't have happened without Doug Flynn?