Make no mistake, I admire Derek Jeter as a ballplayer and as a man. But, like Keith Olberman, I just don't think his retirement warrants all the hoopla. Put Jeter in a Kansas City Royals uniform- any team but the Yankees- and all the same stats, good and bad, and he doesn't get the season long farewell tour. It was a great career, one certainly to be proud of but, even by Yankee standards, not deserving of all this.
Paul Konerko of the White Sox is also retiring and playing in ball parks across the country....for the last time. Konerko had a fine career but, his farewell tour is kind of an after thought. Like Jeter he pretty much spent his entire career with one team which, in this time of free-agency and big contracts, is kinda rare and refreshing. But, is it going to be this way from here on out?
I miss the old days when guys retired in the off season after mediocre season and, hurting like hell one morning trying to get out of bed, called it quits. Guys used to hang on a bit too long in the old days for the love of the game and for the money. It's only been in the last 25/30 years that players could retire with security that befitted the ridiculous money they had been making. Jeter is getting $12 million for this season. He won't be collecting Social Security and dining before 5pm to get The Blue Plate special.
You can look up the stats for both and Jeter, at least, will be a first ballot hall of famer. Again though, that's mostly because he was a Yankee. In KC or Tampa Bay the same stats aren't so automatic. I don't see Konerko getting in the Hall at all. He doesn't have the 500 home runs or 3000 hits. Jeter has the hits (3461 and counting) and that is a very legitimate criteria. Konerko will get respectable votes but, never really get close. Honestly, put him in a Yankees uniform and maybe....
Olbermann wasn't knocking Jeter. He was knocking the bullshit surrounding the World Farewell Tour. Same here. I like Keith Olbermann but, he's no Edward R. Murrow, ya know?
Let's go to the videotape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__UJ9VZB508
2 comments:
Why the fond farewell? Because every woman wants him and every man wants to be him.
Wasn't there steroid rumors abounding about him? Was that just rumors? hmmm...
I don't think there were ever steroid rumors about him. He wasn't ever a slugger, just a guy who could hit, and field and play the game and play it in the biggest baseball market in the country. He seemed to have a knack for making the big plays and getting the big hits- like last night in his last game at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles hit 2 homers in the top of the ninth to tie the game and Jeter knocked in the winning run.
A great, solid career, no doubt, un-tainted by dating Madonna, unlike some other Yankees I could mention....
Post a Comment