On Baseball
Jeter Reaches Fabled 3,000, and It?s a Blast
With his teammates cheering, Derek Jeter runs the bases after hitting his 3,000th hit -- a solo home run -- in the third inning. More Photos �
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: July 9, 2011
The pursuit of a sports milestone can seem like a march to the inevitable. Fans have known for years that, barring a catastrophic injury, Derek Jeter would reach 3,000 career hits. The only question was how.
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Derek Jeter got his 2,999th career hit in his first at-bat on Saturday. More Photos �
�Jeter, the Yankees? captain, answered it Saturday with a performance that ranks among the greatest of his decorated career. He slammed a home run in the third inning for his 3,000th hit, and capped a five-hit day with the go-ahead single in the eighth inning of a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.
Even for Jeter, who dreamed he would be the Yankees shortstop and grew up to lead the team to five championships, the script seemed almost implausible.
?If I would have tried to have written it and given it to someone, I wouldn?t have even bought it,? Jeter said. ?It?s just one of those special days.?
The 3,000th hit, off a full-count curveball from the left-hander David Price, was Jeter?s first over the wall at Yankee Stadium since last June. His five hits matched a career high he had reached only twice before in the regular season, in 2001 and 2005.
Christian Lopez, 23, a fan from Highland Mills, N.Y., caught the ball in the left-field seats and returned it to Jeter, who became the first player with 3,000 hits for the Yankees. Jorge Posada, Jeter?s close friend and a teammate for 17 years, wrapped Jeter in a hug at home plate, with reliever Mariano Rivera joining the embrace.
?You?re talking about from Babe Ruth to Yogi Berra and DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, all those guys, and none of them have 3,000,? Rivera said. ?And then here comes Derek Jeter, for so many years.?
Jeter became the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits, but only the second to do so with a home run, after Tampa Bay?s Wade Boggs in 1999. Only Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount joined the club at a younger age than Jeter, who turned 37 on June 26.
That puts Jeter ahead of the pace set by Pete Rose, the career hits leader, who retired at age 45 with 4,256. Jeter is signed for two more years, with a player option for 2014, but he said Thursday that Rose was not on his radar.
?You have to play another five years and get 200 hits to get that extra thousand,? Jeter said. ?You?re talking about a long, long time. You never say never, but it?s not something that?s on my mind.?
Jeter?s recent performance offers few hints of Rose?s staying power. His .270 average would match last season?s figure for the lowest of his career, and he recently spent almost three weeks on the disabled list with a strained calf muscle. Jeter has hit a higher percentage of ground balls (65.3 percent through Friday) than any player in the majors.
Naturally, some of the erosion in his skills can be traced to age, and, perhaps, to the extra wear and tear from roughly a season?s worth of games ? 147 ? across 30 postseason series. Jeter has also played all his defensive games at shortstop, the most demanding spot on the field besides catcher.
Only one other player reached 3,000 hits while still a regular shortstop: Honus Wagner, in 1914.
?Physically, you have a responsibility that can be difficult, and mentally as well, you have to be in every pitch, every game,?� Jeter said. ?So there?s probably a reason why there?s not too many guys that have played the position that have had that amount of hits. I take pride in it. This is my job. This is the only thing I?ve done.?
Jeter was a high school shortstop in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1992, when the Yankees chose him sixth over all in the draft. He advanced to the majors within three years, and by 1996 he was there to stay. Jeter never wanted a day off, he said, for fear that George Steinbrenner, the impatient principal owner, would replace him.
There has never been much danger of that, even after last season, when Jeter?s production dipped just as his contract expired. The Yankees gave him a deal worth at least $51 million over three years, but they did so grudgingly, publicly challenging him to explore free agency.
Jeter has said he was angered; he had tried to make it clear he wanted only to play for the Yankees. Meanwhile, he worked to improve in the off-season and in spring training, eliminating his stride in hopes of having more time to react to each pitch. But Jeter abandoned the adjustment soon after the season started and reverted to his old mechanics ? without his old results.
No comments:
Post a Comment