Every week, Christopher Wuensch delves into his baseball card collection to recap baseball history. Sometimes, the cards can’t tell the entire story. Thankfully, he also hoards ticket stubs…
According to the Gregorian calendar, the year is 2014. The
Bengali calendar claims it’s the year 1421, while the Buddhist will tell you
that it’s 2558.
Baseball fans know the truth. This will be the Year of Derek
Jeter.
In other words, the Chinese year of the Horse will be rife
with celebrations not seen in the Bronx since the New York Yankees bid farewell
to the Iron Horse.
The Yankee Captain announced his retirement this week,
stating that MMXIV will be his final season.
Brace yourself. It’s going to get schmaltzy in every city
the Yankees’ shortstop visits this summer — and with good cause.
That Jeter opted for the “farewell tour” route is a bit
surprising, given the 13-time all-star’s penchant for letting his actions on
the field — rather than his mouth or Twitter account — do the talking.
He enters the season with 3,316 career hits and should
supplant Paul Molitor for ninth on the all-time hits list in the season’s first
week. In fact, if Jeter collects the ninth 200-hit season of his career, he’ll
not only surpass Molitor, but Carl Yastrzemski, Honus Wagner and Cap Anson for
sixth all-time. That alone would make him a lock for the Hall of Fame.
But, as anyone who’s watched Jeter since he broke into the
big leagues in 1995 knows, when October rolls around in New York…the ghosts
come out and legends are crowned.
The tributes will be plentiful in the 18 Big League cities
the Yanks will visit this summer. There will be lots of looks back, gifts and
the occasional tears.
They’ll need to roll out the tarp on Sept. 25 against the
Baltimore Orioles to collect all the tears, when
Jeter takes his place at
shortstop in the house next to the House That Ruth Built for the last time.
Rather than fight the schmaltz, might as well embrace it.
So, speaking of Jeter versus the Orioles, I dug into my
basement to recall my all-time favorite Jeter moment.
The date was Oct. 9, 1996.
It was the bottom of the eighth inning and the Yanks trailed
4-3 to the aforementioned Orange Birds in the American League Championship
Series. From our isolated perches in the left field bleachers, we watched as
Jeter lofted a fly ball to deep right field — the short porch. As far as we
knew, the ball disappeared. We couldn’t have seen it anyway as the bleachers
were going berserk. There was no way to know that a scamp named Jeffery Maier
had just made himself a household name.
Maier got the spotlight by reaching over a stealing a game-tying
home run for the home team. Bernie Williams won it in the bottom of the 11th
with a walk-off and once, bleak-looking outcome turned into a game for the
ages.
But Jeter’s heroics were just beginning. Over the next 17
years, the clutch performances only multiplied.
Expect to hear more stories such as these as Jeter trots
around the country on his farewell tour this summer.
And in five years, when he’s first eligible for the Baseball
Hall of Fame, we’ll rehash them all over again.
METS FANS: Derek Jeter’s final trip to Queens is May 14 and 15 when the Mets play host to the Yankees in the 2014 Subway Series. Get your tickets now. They won’t be cheap on the open market.
Fregosi Passes Away
In other short stop news, Jim Fregosi passed away this
morning (Feb. 14) at the age of 71. He played 18 years for four teams — including
the 1973 Mets, who lost to the Oakland Athletics that year in the World Series.
Baseball couldn’t keep Fregosi (a six-time all-star) away if
they tried. The man known as the last original Los Angeles Angels player played
20 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in his final season in 1978. Before the
season was over, Fregosi was managing the Angels to a 62-54 record; good enough
for second place.
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