Jeter ends iconic career in style

On Thursday Derek Jeter stepped up to the plate for the final time in Yankee Stadium. He did so to the recording of the late Bob Shepherd announcing his name, the stadium chanting his name, in a tie game with a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth. Jeter, who has always had a pension for the dramatic, hit a walk-off.

Listen, I’m not naive. I know Jeter isn’t the best player ever, or the best Yankee, or even the best short-stop. But he was the face of baseball for the better part of the last two decades. If you were born after September 14, 1994 you have not seen the MLB without Jeter. You have to be in your early 40’s to remember a world series title for the Yankees before Jeter.

I don’t know if he would have been such a big deal if he was on a different team, but why speculate that? Take it for what it is. Jeter is the captain for the New York Yankees, I know that and everyone else knows that. I can’t name another captain on another team, not even my beloved Cardinals. It’s not a visible thing in baseball, there are no pre-game coin tosses, no arm bands and no special patches. Yet we know Jeter as simply “the captain.” Why? Because he is iconic.

Baseball is over 100 years old, so we simply can’t talk about best ever. However Jeter is the most iconic player of our generation. His stats won’t overwhelm you, his defense won’t astound you however Jeter’s greatness is measured in the children who grew up wanting to be him. In the players currently in the league who claimed Jeter as their favorite players growing up. In the fans in Fenway, who spent twenty years booing and cursing Jeter, applauding him in his final games.

Jeter was the face of baseball. Whether it was because of him bursting on to the scene, winning rookie of the year, or maybe his 14 all star appearances, or even winning the World Series as many times or more than 24 of baseball’s franchises. Jeter was the pinnacle of fame for baseball in recent history, because let’s face it, the popularity of baseball has greatly diminished.

So who is the new face of baseball? To be the face you need talent, to play in a big market and that intangible stat called likeability. We can speculate who it may be, but what is for certain is that that spot is open.

Jeter, like him or not, you have to re2pect him, you have to respect his body of work and respect what he meant to the game. We better all hope that there is someone out there inspiring a new batch of kids to play baseball like Jeter inspired the last batch or two.