PAGE 10 • March 2020
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TABLE HOPPING
Sports Take by MIKE LINDSLEY
Derek Jeter: The Perfect Baseball Player I remember watching Derek Sanderson Jeter from the get-go. Something was different. He had IT. After a few meaningless games in 1995 and sitting on the bench in the postseason, Derek Jeter really started his baseball career the season after. Jeter hit a home run on Opening Day in Cleveland off Dennis Martinez on April 2, 1996. Plus, that over-the-shoulder catch on the same day off the bat of Omar Vizquel that looked like Willie Mays at shortstop. He won Rookie of the Year in 1996. .314 average and 183 hits. And then he proceeded to be unnerved in helping the Yanks to the World Series over Atlanta after being down 0-2. He hit .412 and .417 in the ALDS and ALCS, respectively, that season, and it all seemed so normal for him. But it wasn’t for us. This was far from normal. I still wasn’t sure. Not because I was only 17 and young and stupid. But because this couldn’t be real. You see, Don Mattingly was my guy growing-up. No one could top #23. This guy Jeter, I mean, this is one good year, right? He can’t be THIS perfect again and again and … Well, he was this perfect, from the first day to the last day at Fenway Park, where I was sitting in the bleachers on September 28, 2014. Yep, he got a hit in his final at-bat that day, a chopped grounder to third and he ran to first base as hard as ever because well, that was Derek Jeter right to the end. Fenway Park, of all places, gave him repeated standing ovations and Boston legends were there to salute #2. It was quite a job by the rivals. The incredible celebration was probably also helped by the fact that both teams weren’t playoffbound, which probably hurt Jeter the most. You see, Derek Jeter had a perfect baseball career and was a perfect baseball player. He never screwed-up on or off the field in New York City, on the biggest stage in the biggest media market playing in the biggest uniform of them all wearing the biggest logo of them all. He went about his business. Spring HUGE DAILY BUFFET Training games were World Series games. Mon-Thurs $ 95 Sure, the stakes were different. But his 11AM-8PM approach wasn’t. Maybe that’s how he did it. Maybe that’s how he did The Flip and became Mr. 228 HUNTLEY ROAD Off Route 57A (Off Rt 481) November. Maybe that’s how he homered off Bobby Jones in Game 4 of the 2000 PHOENIX, NY • 315.695.2245 World Series after the Mets had won Game www.PhoenixSportsRestaurant.com
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3 and had all the momentum even with the Yanks up 2-1 in the Fall Classic. Maybe that’s how he won the All-Star Game and World Series MVP awards in the same year (2000), still the only player to do that. Maybe that’s how he flew into the stands a couple times near left field (LEFT FIELD!?!?) and caught the ball. Maybe it’s how he won five Gold Glove Awards while being called a terrible defensive shortstop by so many. Maybe it’s how he made second baseman better in the field. Maybe it’s how he carried his team in 2006 and got robbed of an AL MVP because of anti-Yankee bias. Maybe it’s On and off the field, Jeter was, well, Perfect. how he went 5-5 in Game 1 of the 2006 ALDS against Detroit with yours truly in the old park. Maybe it’s how he hit a home run for hit number 3,000 off of David Price at home with the pressure on as always. Oh, and then proceed to get another hit, a tie breaking single in the 8th inning to give his team a 5-4 win over the Rays on a 5-5 day. Maybe it’s how he got a hit in his last at-bat at Yankee Stadium, opposite way of course, a walk-off RBI and a win. Because, of course he did. -He’s Derek Jeter. Maybe it’s how he closed the old Yankee Stadium on the final day against Baltimore, where I sat way up behind home plate crying my eyes out listening to him tell us that there would be more memories across the street. Come on, Derek, more memories? Really? Like here, the same as they were here? And of course, maybe they weren’t the same. But as usual, Derek Jeter prepared the same in the new place and BOOM, the Yanks were World Series champs in 2009. Many remember it most as A-Rod carrying the team to a trophy or Hideki Matsui winning
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Jeter was a Yankee. He was a Yankee through and through, playing in the big city for his favorite team of his youth, and no one handled it better.
