Derek Jeter was a good man, and an even better baseball player. Unfortunately, he was taken away from us far too soon.
Wait, Jeter’s not dead? Then clearly I’ve received the wrong impression here. After several months of parting gifts, from the surfboard he’ll never use, to the guitar he’ll never play, to the no. 2 from the scoreboard that the Chicago Cubs ran and grabbed when they forgot a gift, I’m finding it more and more difficult to maintain my silence over the sham that this farewell tour really is.
From the outset, I’m going to go ahead and declare that this is not an indictment of Derek Jeter: Baseball Player. Derek Jeter is one of the greatest to ever lace up the spikes. There isn’t really any argument to be had here. Fourteen All Star Game appearances, five World Championships, a handful of Gold Gloves, etcetera, etcetera. Add over 3,400 hits (who cares about longevity?) and a career .377 on-base percentage and you have a guy that could step into Cooperstown tomorrow if the rules allowed it. Who cares that he never won an MVP Award, or that his WAR is just 88th among all-time players?
Again, as passive-aggressive a series of statements as that may have been, the point here isn’t to debate the greatness of Derek Jeter or question that he’s worthy of enshrinement. These are obvious things that aren’t even worth debating. However, this farewell tour, as it finally, and mercifully, winds down, has been complete rubbish. Not that it should have come as any surprise, given the circus that we saw with Mariano Rivera‘s retirement last year.
Now of course, it’s impossible to dispute the sincerity of the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour without at the same time somehow knocking Jeter as a player. Ask any Yankee fan. It’s impossible. If you hate the tour, you hate Jeter. It’s only logical. However, when Sunday rolls around, and Jeter steps on the field for the last time as a player, it’s going to feel more like a funeral than a retirement. And this comes after months of teams fulfilling an obligation to hand Jeter some sort of household object with a no. 2 on it, most of which are going to end up in the corner of his basement somewhere.
Then you have a guy like Paul Konerko. Now, is Konerko a no-brainer choice to enter the Hall in the coming years? He might get in there at some point, but he’s probably a solid contender for the Hall of Very Good. Nonetheless, he’s been a figure of consistency over his career. He’s been to six All Star Games, has served as the captain of the Chicago White Sox for the last several years, and helped them to snap a World Series drought, including an MVP performance in the ALCS, back in 2005. Rather than get the special treatment that Jeter has received, Konerko has been short on parting gifts and will instead slink quietly into the depths of retirement. Which is probably the way it should be. Oh, and the White Sox have already found his successor at first base in Jose Abreu, while the Yankees are still wondering what to do at shortstop in 2015 and beyond.
The point here is that the entire concept of a farewell tour is nothing but a forced, awkward exchange simply for teams to acknowledge that a great baseball player is retiring. Wouldn’t a standing ovation from the fans at the tail end of a game, and a simple tip of the cap really serve the same purpose? That may have been a better way for Jeter to go out than this disaster. Let’s hope that we’re spared from this type of chaos when David Ortiz and Albert Pujols decide to hang ’em up.
At least this isn’t something we’ll have to worry about when Alex Rodriguez decides to call it a career.
