Could Jeter play baseball? Sure I'll give him that. Should his name be spoken in the same breath as Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle? Not by a long shot. In no universe is he a first ballot HOF.
I guarantee that Jeter is a first ballot HOF player. And I do believe he deserves to be named with them. Jeter is a baseball legend. He will be remembered like DiMaggio, Mantle, and Ruth.
Jeter may be a 2nd or 3rd ballot HOF, but I doubt he will be a first ballot. Jeter is a damn great Short Stop, and that is a defensively demanding job in baseball, and he is a clutch hitter. But I don't feel like he has done enough with his 20 years to be a 1st ballot HOF.
He's guaranteed first ballot on reputation alone. He doesn't deserve it but it'll happen. He in no way belongs in the same echelon of players as mantle, gerihg, ruth etcetera in Yankees lore. Not when it comes to ability as a ballplayer.
Derek jeter the cheater! Sorry in my opinion he used steroids and cheated on his wife. Dated maralyn monro and cheated on her! Hence his nick name.
Derek Jeter is nothing special. Just a good player on a great team. He's just a human, but he's too full of himself
6th all time on the Hits list 17 consecutive 150 hit seasons in a row (only other person to do this is Hank Arron... EVER) 3000 Hits, 250 Homr 300 Stolen Bases 1200 RBI club. Hello only other person here Mr. Willie Mays. Let's ignore all of this though, this only shows he was a true hitter and a productive player. Let's look at him in comparison first to other Yankees then in comparison to other Short Stops. Yankees Hits - 1st All Time Runs - 2nd All Time Doubles - 1st All Time Triples - 13th All Time (Tied) Home Runs - 9th All Time RBIs - 6th All Time Stolen Bases - 1st All Time Batting Average - 8th All Time Sure he wasn't a BIG Home Run hitter. It still remains though in the history of a legendary franchise with legendary players like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and tons more he holds his own. I would go as far as to say he was the 5th best Yankee right below those 4 which is HUGE in and of itself. Now let's look amongst his PEERS at ShortStop. First off, many of the guys he's in contention with here weren't career Shortstops. He was. That is huge in and of itself. Either way, let's compare him to EVERY Shortstop EVER. Runs - 1st All Time Hits - 1st All Time Doubles - 4th All Time Home Runs - 3rd All Time RBIs - 6th All Time BB's - 5th All Time Stolen Bases - 18th All Time Batting Average - 6th All Time OBP - 7th All Time SLG - 11th All Time OPS - 5th All Time THAT is AMAZING! He is in top 10 in MOST categories of everyone who has EVER played Shortstop! This is excluding that facts that he is 6th all time amongst all players on the hits list and 9th all time on the runs list. In comparison to his peers as SS he is easily top 5 all time. Amongst Yankees I would say he is #5 - #10 all time. He is the BEST Yankees SS EVER. Just for humors sake... Honus Wagner - Runs 1736, Hits 3430, Doubles 640, Triples 252, HR 101, RBI 1732, SB 722, AVG .329 Derek Jeter - Runs 1923, Hits 3464, Doubles 544, Triples 66, HR 260, RBI 1310, SB 358, AVG .309 Cal Ripken - Runs 1647, Hits 3184, Doubles 603, Triples 44, HR 431, RBI 1695, SB 36, AVG .276 Ozzie Smith - Runs 1257, Hits 2460, Doubles 402, Triples 69, HR 28, RBI 793, SB 580, AVG .262 Personally Honus Wagner was best SS all time. But I would say arguing Ripken Jr. and him would be allowed but Ozzie Smith shouldn't even be in this convo for best SS of all time. :lol: Let Ozzie's stat speak for themselves.
Those are 3 of the Yankees (also DiMaggio) I would put above him on a top 5 Yankees all time list. Just my opinion.
Where has he been full of himself? One of the amazing things about him is his selflessness. He's always been about team above self. In the fish bowl that is NYC he never made front page news for doing anything wrong and I can guarantee people were watching. Hell, even in his last game at Yankee stadium during his interview with Meredith Merokovich he took the time to congratulate the Orioles on making the post season without provocation. He is EVERYTHING you want someone representing your organization to BE. People seriously just hate because he was on the Yankees. :lol:
Fans of baseball (shocking they play this game too) like myself care and appreciate witnessing a legendary player for my entire life. Sure he was never MVP, he came close a few times but it's kind of hard to get MVP when power hitting is the core of your era (partially due to steroids) and you're not doing them. He still was always throughout his 20 years a well above average player and to deny this is usually just because you hate the team he played for or a grab for attention and ratings (refer to Mr. Olberman on ESPN 9 at 3 AM with his 2 viewers).