DEREK JETER HITS #3,000!
Not that this is even remotely about me, but, if you saw me out and about on Saturday night, and you thought I looked a little pasty, just blame it on Derek Jeter because I was planning on doing self-tanner all day, but I couldn’t stop weeping with happiness when he got his 3,000th hit, and the rest of the day, too, long enough to get it done!
Those of you who are sports fans, or even know a lot about that category, know just how amazing an achievement that is. For the rest of you, it’s a feat that only twenty-seven other players in the history of baseball have accomplished! And he’s the first Yankee to do it!
That last sentence still boggles the mind. With Yankee greats like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio, not to mention Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, how is Derek Jeter the first??? That should prove to everyone just how hard it is to do.
The whole game on Saturday was storybook-worthy; it was much better than The Natural! Here’s a quick re-cap of the whole shebang, including the lead-up to Saturday:
He’d been going for that record all season. About a month ago, he was inching closer. Just six away from the mark, on June 13th, he suffered one of his very few semi-serious injuries—a strained right calf. It was serious enough to land him on the 15-day disabled list, and then a short rehab assignment in Tampa, before returning to the Yanks after losing three valuable weeks in his quest for his 3,000th hit.
One of the worst parts about that is that the Yanks were due for a long homestand, and Derek desperately wanted to hit #3,000 at home, not on the road.
[On a personal note, I was going to get to see all those games on TV, because they were all nationally televised, which most are not. I know I can probably get a Yankees games season package on satellite for a small fee, but then I’d have absolutely no life at all—I insist on watching every Yankees and Mets game that I have access to. That’s why I barely go out in New York in the summer—I get to see both daily. Perhaps a tad nutty, but I love my hometown baseball games.]
So, Derek Jeter finally returns to playing, doesn’t get a lot of hits, and then, at long last, they have a few games at home. By this past Friday night, he needed just two more hits, and everything seemed right in the Bronx. Until the rains came, that is. Being rained-out that night gave him just two games at home to get two hits, which, especially with all that pressure on him, is no easy feat. Their opponents, the Tampa Rays, were asked to agree to play a double-header on Saturday, but refused, which is their right, thus putting even more pressure on Derek.
Which brings us to Saturday day. As always, DJ, (as I call him in my fantasies,) is up first. He gets up to a full count, (look it up, if you’re not a sports fan, but, trust me, it added to the drama,) and then…a hit! A single that brought the crowd to its feet (well, in actuality, they were already standing and cheering when he just walked up to the plate,) and a sigh of relief to everyone’s lungs. Only one to go.
Third inning: he’s back! With another full count. With, I believe, sports fans everywhere praying for just a little hit. But then, like a miracle, it happens—a home run!!! On #3,000! [I swear, I’m sitting here shaking with sobs as I’m writing this. It was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever witnessed. No hyperbole here.]
He hadn’t hit a home run in Yankee Stadium in almost a year! Nor barely anywhere else—he’s not a home run hitter. And, sit down for this one, folks; as Derek Jeter, in his signature Yankees #2 jersey, got his 3,000th hit, on a home run, after a full count, and also after a so-so year and a half of at-bats, and an injury and a stint on the disabled list, at home in front of the fans, the clock struck two!!! It happened at 2PM. No one would believe this stuff in a movie! They’d think it was too pat or corny.
When Yankees announcer, Michael Kay, pointed out that fact that may have eluded many in the excitement of the moment, he added something like, “I’ll wait for your goosebumps to go down.” He’ll be waiting quite awhile for mine, let me tell ya.
But that wasn’t the end to the drama that day, not by a long shot. Derek wound-up going five for five, accumulating three singles, a double, and that historic home run. (Btw—he’s only the second man to get to 3,000 by a home run—Wade Boggs did it in 1999, I believe.)
Making it the absolutely perfect day for him, and for all of us, actually, his last hit drove home what turned-out to be the winning run!!! I was so relieved, because when the game kept getting tied, I was really worried because I knew that losing the game would just ruin it all for Derek, which he confirmed later in his press conference.
A funny side note is that, after he got two more hits after the 3,000th, Michael Kay said, “Only 998 to go to 4,000.” That made me laugh.
That’s all the technical stuff; now to the “Karen” observations:
Fittingly, when he rounded the bases after his historic home run, and the team ran out to meet him, the first two he hugged were Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, his only two teammates of seventeen years! (Actually, that trio is the only one in the history of all sports to be together that long.) To my eye, which is trained for that kind of emotional stuff, he also hugged them the longest and hardest, too.
This is my favorite quote I heard about the situation, and trust me, I watched all the coverage all day and night and the following day, as well: Doug Glanville, an ESPN baseball analyst, said Derek was “playing at the highest of levels in Yankeeland. That’s the other wild card factor. You have to play in a pressure cooker environment and he did it with grace and class and obviously very productively.”
Some commentators were saying Derek was “annoyed” by all the attention on his quest, but I don’t think that’s the right word. I know it wasn’t his favorite thing, but he wasn’t annoyed. Not too happy about it, being as private as he is, so perhaps “bothered a tad” would be more like it.
After I recorded each of my thoughts, the broadcasters said the same thing later!!!
And let’s not forget about Christian Lopez, the amazingly kind fan who caught the home run ball… and gave it back!!! The Yankees organization rewarded him with four suites seats for every home game for the rest of the season, including the play-offs, (knock on wood,) but I think they should have given him lifetime access. What would it have hurt them??? They’re never sold out anymore anyway, since the prices went off the charts. And I know that Derek gave him some signed memorabilia, but what would it hurt him to also write the kid a big check??? If Christian had sold the ball, the least he would have raked-in would have been a hundred grand. At the very least, I hope that DJ sends him a big gift.
And just a few comments on Derek Jeter, in general:
He’s such a class act that I don’t think there’s even one player or fan anywhere who wasn’t happy for him, which is highly unusual. (Even the opposing pitcher who gave up the big hit, David Price, tweeted that his own mom was probably happy! That’s a great sport, and he deserves some props, as well.)
I’ve never heard a bad word about Derek Jeter. And I did sports radio shows for years. National ones and in Los Angeles, where they hate the Yankees.
Still, after all these years, he has the cutest body in all of sports.
He’s never been in a scandal, (unless you count that once he was out late in a club,) never been involved with steroids, or even had dating problems. ones that we’ve heard about anyway. He’s rarely in gossip pages, even though it turns-out that he’s had several high-profile relationships. Until I researched him the other day, I actually had no idea that he used to date Nick Lachey’s fiancée, Vanessa Minnillo! I guess she and I have the same taste in men, on both counts. (She just better stay away from Mr. X!)
Now, all that good stuff being said, I have to add my thoughts on the upcoming All-Star Game situation, in which I’m more than a tad disappointed. Here are the scoops:
So, after all this excitement, I couldn’t wait to see him at the All-Star Game tomorrow. I told Mr. X that this just be a great relief to Derek to have gotten in the “3,000 club” before the game, so that, rather than quizzing him about just when he’s going to achieve it, they can all pat him on the back and celebrate the achievement with him. I was happy for everyone over it—Derek, the fans, baseball, the guys who aren’t nearly as famous as he is who get to glow in the fact that they’re on the field of their mutual sport with him. And, of course, me, who gets to kvell over all of it! [Note: kvell’s a Yiddish word meaning to burst with pride, basically.]
But then it sank in—I did, indeed, hear correctly the first couple of times, that Derek elected to sit out the All-Star Game this year, due to his recent (though healed) calf injury. I’m crushed, for all of us. Yes, he seriously needs, and deserves, a couple of days rest. But, isn’t that what he had when he was on the disabled list for said injury? I know he also rehabbed, and had stress over what the immediate future would bring. But first, he rested.
I also know that that kind-of rest is not at all what these three days will be. But, I feel he owes it to the fans who voted him in. He doesn’t even have to play! He can just be there! He can do more interviews, (which I don’t blame him for wanting to take a rest from,) and pal around with his fellow players whom he never gets to relax with any other time.
But, most importantly, he can do it for the fans who spent their hard-earned money and their rest time to go to Arizona to get to cheer for him in person, and give them the thrill that they’re craving. And give us at home a chance to weep our guts out once more. Or is that part just me?
No matter what, I’m hoping that by the time you’re reading is, he’s changed his mind. But, as everyone who’s taking part in the festivities is already supposed to be there now, I have a feeling that we’ll all be disappointed this time. I just know what a perfect celebration it would be. And, at thirty-seven, with such a magical moment recently at hand, I don’t know how many more All-Star teams he’ll be voted onto. I’m just sayin’.
Okay, that’s it. I’ve gotta go get ready to watch the Home Run Derby, just in case I have some happy tears left.
[Last note: there are many wonderful articles out there on the topic of Derek Jeter reaching this milestone; I encourage you to research some. It’s such an uplifting true story that every person’s take on it should be a worthwhile read.]
