CLIFTON PARK, NY – Back home for Mother’s Day this weekend I was in my bedroom one morning and I looked at the wall behind my bed.
There are five jerseys hanging on that wall. My football jersey from college, three Buffalo sports icons of my youth (former Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and former Buffalo Bills Fred Jackson and Stevie Johnson) and the one and only Derek Jeter.
As many of you probably already know, and our very own Cheesy Bruin has already pointed out, Sunday was Derek Jeter Night.
While the game itself didn’t go very well, with the New York Yankees falling to the Houston Astros 10-7 in the nightcap, but that’s not the point. Sunday was about each and every one of our mothers, and The Captain.
Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, Derek Jeter was THE guy.
Is he on the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore? No, he’s not. But he’s a top-5 shortstop of all time. I think we can all agree about that, right?
There’s all of the memories. It’s almost like he thrived in the clutch.
There was his home run against the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS. The walk-off home run in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The highlight to his diving catch in the 12th inning of a tie game against the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Oh, and there’s his 3,000th-career hit coming as a home run. Lastly, but certainly not least, there was his game-winning RBI single in his final at-bat ever at Yankee Stadium.
Jeter played in the bigs for 20 years and never played on a team with a losing record. That can’t be a coincidence.
He may have never won an MVP award or was likely never a first round selection on your fantasy baseball team, but he was a special player. Jeter was consistent as heck and is the type of player we’ll very likely never see again.
Jeter has something that even Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Manny Machado and Carlos Correa don’t have.
Just soak in the greatness for as long as you can.
Come back tomorrow for Ben Whitney and please follow us on Twitter at @ByDJEberle, @MeetTheMatts & @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
Just savor all of these Derek Jeter moments.
I Was There When: Jeter's Last Game
Two years ago, Derek Jeter played his final game. Relive it here in this episode of "I Was There When"
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“There isn’t a person or player I would trade places with that’s playing now or ever. And the reason why I say that is because I got a chance to play for a first-class organization and in front of the greatest fans in the history of sports.”
Posted by New York Yankees on Sunday, May 14, 2017
