RIP Derek Jeter

[MFS62]

d'Kong76 wrote: New Era's gift to Cap'n Jeets...

Wow!
That team's hat with a flat brim, like those worn by the guys caught on video when they knock off a convenience store.

Later

[G-Fafif]

MFY fans have to be begged to forget The Captain can't play any longer -- otherwise he might not pop in on MFYS III neighbors all spontaneously unannounced ever again.

To some extent, of course, this whole Yankee season has been about Derek Jeter�s departure. But with the club�s playoff dreams fading like the last flicker of orange in a sunset, this final home stand of Jeter�s career has morphed into one long Bronx goodbye before the real end in Boston. Which is why we offer some advice for you, the fan: Don�t blow it. The consecutive four-game series against the Blue Jays and the Orioles are your last chance to see the man in person, in town, in pinstripes. Appreciate it. Take your kids. Bring your ma. How about going with the gang to watch Jeter from the bleachers one last time, maybe? [...] But don�t spend your time dwelling on how this is Jeter�s worst non-injury season. Don�t deny it � for some of you, that has gotten in the way lately. You need to forget the bad year. Forget the frustrating groundouts off his bat, the diminished power, the compromised range of a 40-year-old shortstop. Ignore where he hits in the lineup and stop fretting over Joe Girardi keeping him where he belongs, in the two-hole. It�s not a big deal, especially now.

[G-Fafif]

The Murray Chassiest paragraph ever written that has nothing to do with bacne or how his blog isn't a blog.

Jeter has had his defensive critics, especially in his later years, but when they start using defensive statistics to make their case, they lose their credibility, as far as I am concerned. Jeter has always had intangibles that the statistics cannot measure.

[Edgy MD]

It's a funny world where you lose ALL credibility by citing data. Any data.

[bmfc1]

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/20/video-little-girl-throws-back-a-derek-jeter-foul-ball-and-horrifies-parents/

[HahnSolo]

Ashie62 wrote: And SNY's Chris Carlin buries Jeter. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24716444/tv-shock-jock-on-jeter-this-clowns-a-fraud-and-you-are-all-suckers

Never been a Carlin fan, but thank you, Chris. I'm glad someone said something. Tired of being told by just about everyone that this Gatorade thing is the most bestest, classiest, and most touching thing ever done. Heaven forbid anyone suggest that Jeter is not Babe Ruth, the Pope, and Mandela all rolled into one.

[bmfc1]

What's more important to MLB Network, fillating Jeter or covering a pennant race? Here's your answer:
http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/mlb-network-derek-jeter-last-game.html

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Fawning sports media: "Derek Jeter is so great he's found a way to put the I into Team!"

[G-Fafif]

An exclusive inside look at the Least Interesting Man In The World.

[Ceetar]

Tim Marchman: Tim Marchman lambasts the commercial, and the media for promoting it for free

[Edgy MD]

The backlash has been tremendous. Even so, folks in my FB feed drooling over the commercial insist there has never been anything bad said or written about the guy. Quel?!

[MFS62]

I'm wondering which broadcast team Jeter will be joining to cover the post season.

Later

[seawolf17]

MFS62 wrote: I'm wondering which broadcast team Jeter will be joining to cover the post season. Later

Holy crap, I didn't even think about that. Surefire way to torpedo ratings.

[Ceetar]

seawolf17 wrote: MFS62 wrote: I'm wondering which broadcast team Jeter will be joining to cover the post season. Later Holy crap, I didn't even think about that. Surefire way to torpedo ratings.

He doesn't seem like one of those guys that would be interested in that.

There's a particularly nasty write-up on him in NYMag that has the usual painting his arrogance as a positive trappings

[bmfc1]

http://nypost.com/2014/09/22/hypocritical-jeter-always-somehow-comes-out-on-top/

He always wins. Even when his on-the-field performance hurts his team. Even when he flirts with lines he always made sure not to cross. He is that good at being a public figure.

[Ceetar]

bmfc1 wrote: http://nypost.com/2014/09/22/hypocritical-jeter-always-somehow-comes-out-on-top/ He always wins. Even when his on-the-field performance hurts his team. Even when he flirts with lines he always made sure not to cross. He is that good at being a public figure.

It's a fair point but it credits Jeter with it instead of discrediting the media for their partisanship.

Once something real bad comes out though, it'll be interesting to see if he gets the Tiger treatment.

[Edgy MD]

I thought Jeter jumped the shark with the Gatorade commercial.

And I, 18 years earlier.

Someday, somebody is going to explain to me how "I did it my way" is, in itself, virtuous.

[metirish]

Tim Marchman: Tim Marchman lambasts the commercial, and the media for promoting it for free

that was great

[stevejrogers]

http://deadspin.com/keith-olbermann-takes-a-big-ol-poo-on-derek-jeter-1638319731

[metirish]

DGW posted that on FB, it is gold, every utterance in there is gold

[Edgy MD]

He could be less of a smug tool.

I mean, snarking like that will just elevate the myth of Jeter's "classiness."

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: He could be less of a smug tool

No he can't. Even if he were to try real hard. It;s just not in him.

That said, he's been on this topic of the over-the-top Jete-a-thon for a while now. This one was just more extensive than the others.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: He could be less of a smug tool No he can't. Even if he were to try real hard. It;s just not in him. That said, he's been on this topic of the over-the-top Jete-a-thon for a while now. This one was just more extensive than the others.

To expand on a famous W.C. Fields quote, "anyone who hates kids, dogs, and Derek Jeter can't be all bad".

Later

[Frayed Knot]

But you see the thing is that Olbemann is a Yanqui fan! Grew up one anyway and his family had prime tickets for years. Famously, back when Chuck Knoblauch was having his throwing problems one of his errant throws which wound up multiple rows behind the 1st base dugout wound up hitting Keith's mother in the face.
So it's not Jeter hate, it's just someone who can no longer take the over-the-top send-off.

Like I said before, this didn't come out of the blue, he's been building up to this for a while now.

[Lefty Specialist]

Ah, that was refreshing. Yeah, Olbermann's over the top. That's his schtick- extreme umbrage. But just fun to watch all the same.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I think we'll never see anything this over the top again, and people will actually take pride in saying they "didn't want to do the Derek Jeter thing" when retiring. He will become synonymous with over-the-top, over-commercialized, bloated to the point of embarrassment (if the person had the capacity to be embarrassed by such a thing) departures.

Can you really imagine another elite athlete wearing those shoes?

I think we're seeing a perfect storm of an athlete with an ego far larger than his self-awareness, a team that thinks arrogance is a virtue, a fan base that buys into elitism and entitlement, a fawning, follow-the-pack media, and shameless sponsors smart enough to tap into all of this and use social media and click-based journalism to its advantage.

Seriously, I can't blame Gatorade. It produced that thing and let social media and websites run that ad without even charging the company for it.

[Edgy MD]

If this is a tipping point, and Jeter's act will become seen nationally as a negative thing, well, that would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Frayed Knot]

I suspect it'll be treated less as a path too crass to follow and more as one that no one else will ever be worthy of.
And that, of course, is Olbermann's whole point, not that Jeter hasn't had a terrific career but that this level of adulation has just become so totally out of whack.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Louisville Slugger press release:
(unbelieavable)

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER� RETIRES P72 BAT MODEL IN HONOR OF DEREK JETER

NEW YORK CITY (September 24, 2014) � First times are rare when you�ve been in baseball as long as Louisville Slugger�, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball�. But the storied company did something today that it�s never done in its 130 years in the game. It retired a bat model in honor of a player. In an unprecedented display of respect and admiration from a sporting goods manufacturer, Louisville Slugger announced it is retiring Derek Jeter�s famous P72.

�Derek has swung one bat model from one bat company his entire career,� said James Sass, Director of Professional Baseball Sales for the Louisville, Kentucky-based company. �Derek has made over 12,500 plate appearances in his 20 seasons in MLB, and every single one of them has been with a Louisville Slugger P72. With Derek�s impending retirement, we thought it was fitting to retire his bat model in recognition of his brilliant career. We are grateful for his enduring and unwavering loyalty. We won�t be making the P72 anymore � in honor of Derek.�

Today in Yankee Stadium, Louisville Slugger officials gave Jeter an award to commemorate the retirement of the bat model. It has �The Last P72� mounted on the base to commemorate the company�s decision.

�I signed out of high school and I was looking for a wooden bat,� Jeter said. �Louisville Slugger, it goes without saying, how reputable they are, how long they�ve been around, how much success people have had with it. In terms of the model, I just picked the bat that was shaped like my aluminum bat. It was the P72, and, in my entire career, I�ve never swung another bat.�

RENAMING THE P72 FOR DEREK JETER

Jeter�s decision to choose and stick with the P72 is one that has certainly worked out well for him. He�s now ranked sixth on the all-time career hits list. The P72 has been one of the more popular models with MLB� players over the decades. In addition to Jeter, it has been swung by Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr., and Robin Yount, among others. The specifications of the P72, with its medium barrel and balanced swing weight, will still exist for players to order, but under a new model name.

�Currently, guys like Lyle Overbay and Kelly Johnson in MLB and a few guys in the minor leagues swing the P72,� Sass said. �They�ll still be able to order the specifications of the bat but it will have a new name. We�re going to call it the DJ2 in recognition of Derek and his incredible career.�

The DJ stands, obviously, for Jeter�s first and last initials while the number 2 signifies his uniform number.

A GRANDFATHER CLAUSE

There is one potential exception where Louisville Slugger will use the P72 name on bats again. The company says it will invoke a grandfather clause to use P72 for any descendent of the player for whom the bat was originally made: Les Pinkham

�The P72 was created in 1954 for a minor leaguer named Leslie Wayne Pinkham from Elizabethtown, Kentucky,� said Tyler Sibley, Pro Bat Sales Assistant for Louisville Slugger. �Les Pinkham never made it to Major League Baseball, but his bat sure did � and it became one of the greatest models of all time. If any member of the Pinkham family makes it to professional baseball, we�ll be honored to make them bats using the P72 model number if they wish.�

While that may sound far-fetched, in reality it isn�t. The Pinkhams are a baseball family. Les, for whom the P72 was created, had a son named Bill who also played professional baseball. Bill Pinkham was in the Reds organization and he swung a P72. Sadly, Bill is deceased, but he had a son Zeke who is a very good prospect. Zeke Pinkham plays for the 17U Evoshield Canes that just won the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Association championship and is expected to play Division I college baseball.

�Zeke is playing at a high level in travel ball and he�s going to play at a high level in college, so chances are very good that he could get drafted to play pro ball in a few years and we�ll be making him P72s,� Sibley said. �We hope we have to. And as good as the P72 has been to Derek, we doubt he�ll mind if we pull the model number out for the family the P72 is named for.�

RETIRING P72 MODEL WILL BENEFIT JETER�S TURN 2 FOUNDATION,
LOUISVILLE SLUGGER BUYS BACK FIRST OF LAST P72s

In addition to retiring the P72 model number, Louisville Slugger will also honor Jeter by giving him the final seventy-two P72 bats to be produced to raise funds for his beloved Turn 2 Foundation. The company is recommending that Derek sign and number the bats, 1 through 72, and auction them for his foundation.

�We know how much Derek�s Turn 2 Foundation means to him, so we wanted to do something significant to help the organization as it works to positively impact young lives,� Sass said. �So we�re giving Derek the last 72 of his P72s to use for Turn 2. These bats will be amazing collector�s items, and, once they�re signed by Derek, they should help him raise a lot of money for his foundation.�

Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory will purchase back the first of the last P72 bats to exhibit in its main gallery in Louisville. The museum provided a check for $5,000 to Jeter�s foundation for the bat, and to set the bar for these rare and collectible Derek Jeter P72s as Louisville Slugger supports the Turn 2 Foundation.

ATTENTION MEDIA: For Derek Jeter and P72 bat images and video go to www.thelastP72.com

About Louisville Slugger
Louisville Slugger� is the Official Bat of Major League Baseball� and the #1 Bat in MLB�. It is synonymous with America�s pastime. Originating in 1884, Louisville Slugger bats have graced the hands of the greatest players in baseball, including stars of today. Known for helping create baseball history, Louisville Slugger continues to innovate and provide players the products and confidence they need to leave their mark and make new history every day.

[batmagadanleadoff]

George Brett used the Marv Throneberry model bat and Brett was a better player than Jeter.