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To clarify some of this Jeter stuff for people who& #39;ve not followed my work (which is most people), I grew up an NYY fan and would sit in the stands watching Bobby Meacham heave routine throws past Don Mattingly and pray for a shortstop.
I would think, "Can it really be possible this team hasn& #39;t had a good all-round performance from a SS since Phil Rizzuto& #39;s MVP in 1950?" And it was basically true. Jeter came along at about the same time I became a pro and shelved my fandom, but I was still gratified.
Soon after, I got to write almost daily about NYY for http://MLB.com"> http://MLB.com and then YES. I did this for years and in that capacity saw just about every game Jeter played and from time to time interacted with him (I was never a beat writer, but I had press access). He was great
Maybe because fans had been as desperate for a SS as I had been, they started treating him as the messiah. I& #39;m iconoclastic by nature. I reject that. He still should have won a couple of MVPs-you can believe both in his greatness and his fallibility.
There& #39;s a reason that "past a diving Jeter" became a meme before there were really memes--you heard this at least once a game. He was great to his right (the jump-throws!). He was amazing going back on popups. I don& #39;t think he made a play behind the 2B bag in his entire career.
I got used to watching the opposing SS and noticing him making plays Jeter didn& #39;t. A couple of times a game I would say, "Jeter wouldn& #39;t have gotten that." Sometimes (like if a pop fly dropped) I would say, "Jeter WOULD have gotten that." But there was more of the former.
It was/is easy to overreact to that, because what& #39;s a missed grounder up the middle? A single. It scores, what, 1/3 of the time, and even if it does, later Jeter hits a double or a HR and that& #39;s a net positive. But that was part of evaluating him honestly.
Talking about A-Rod brings in a lot of extra baggage, but Jeter wouldn& #39;t move for him when he was clearly the better SS (I don& #39;t think that condition obtained for very long). That was as much a negative act of ego as when Joe DiMaggio refused to yield CF to Mickey Mantle.
None of this takes away from Jeter being a great player, the greatest SS in NYY history, 3000 hits, all the WS rings... It just means he wasn& #39;t Cal Ripken and Ozzie Smith combined. That& #39;s ALL. So when someone says he should, like the cheese, stand ALONE in Cooperstown, wow.
That writer has failed his audience in a huge way, because he was surrendered his objectivity and instead is pandering to Jeter& #39;s many fans and/or promoting something mythical. That& #39;s not journalism, it& #39;s not history, and it& #39;s not even good commentary.
What& #39;s neat for me here tonight is that to the extent I& #39;m getting negative feedback here, it is the EXACT same feedback I got circa 2000. Either you& #39;re with Jeter or against him. I& #39;m really sorry to offend your sacred cow. I liked him too. I just don& #39;t worship him, and won& #39;t.
