Jeter played his first game in the Majors on May 25th, 1995 going 0 for 5 at the plate with a strikeout in a Yankees 8-7 loss to the Seattle Mariners. The following day, Jeter picked up his first hit and scored his first run as the Yankees fell again to Seattle 7-3.
Now, here we sit, twenty years later and the Captain is hanging it up for good at age 40. During that 20 year run as the shortstop of the New York Yankees, Jeter finished with .310 batting average, 3,465 hits, 544 doubles, 260 home runs, 1,311 RBI and 1,923 runs scored. He led the league in Singles twice (1997, 1998), Runs scored once (1998) and Hits twice (1999, 2012). The runs scored total trail on Babe Ruth in team history, while he's the team leader in hits and doubles for a career. That's just during the regular season.
During the playoffs, he put up numbers that were just as impressive. Sixteen times Jeter played in the playoffs, where he hit .308, while picking up 200 career hits, 20 home runs , 61 RBI and 111 runs scored. In the World Series alone, Jeter was money. In seven World Series trips, Jeter hit .321 while picking up 50 hits 3 home runs and 90 RBI. The guy was flat out money come playoff time, Those numbers put up by Jeter in the playoffs earned him the nicknames "Captain Clutch", and "Mr. November".
He was an all star 14 times, won the gold glove five times, won the 1996 rookie of the year and was named MVP of the all star game and World Series in 2000.
The numbers only tell cold facts about Jeter. His style of play and his professionalism are what made him so good at what he did and made him liked and respected by so many others. Sure he has taken criticism for his defensive play. Some people have gone on record of saying that Jeter is one of the worst defensive players to ever step foot on a baseball diamond. Sure Jeter made errors on the field when he played, but nobody is every going to be perfect at every aspect of the game, I mean the guy is human and can't make every play. Besides I think winning the gold glove at shortstop five times in a career still has to mean something.
But besides his defensive play, his consistency on offense, I feel, more than makes up for it. From his first full season in 1996, Jeter has played fewer than 148 games a season only three times in his career: when he dislocated his left shoulder on Opening Day 2003 (119 games), when he injured his calf in 2011 (131 games), and in 2013 when he struggled with a myriad of injuries (17 games). If you take an average for Jeter, over his entire 20 year career, over a 162 game schedule, Jeter hits .310 with 204 hits, 113 runs scored 32 doubles 21 steals 15 home runs and 77 RBI. That right there should speak volumes as to just how consistent a hitter Jeter was over the course of a career.
Jeter is also known for his professionalism. In an age where professional athletes often find themselves in personal scandals, Jeter has mostly avoided major controversy in a high profile career in New York City while maintaining a strong work ethic. Due to his style of play, opponents and teammates hold Jeter in high esteem. A clubhouse leader, Jeter defuses confrontations between teammates.
See what made Jeter so good on the field was that he was consistent. He never put up the huge offensive numbers, because with a few exceptions, shortstop isn't a position really known for huge numbers on both sides of the ball. Jeter has been able to deliver at the plate and in the field at a consistent rate for twenty seasons, which is why he was able to stay on a Big League roster for all that time.
People can hate on Jeter if they want but at the end of the day, the guy was professional in every sense of the word. he delivered in the big moments when he needed to. The guy was a winner and one of the greatest to every play this game,
So walk off into the sunset Captain you deserve it for one hell of a career. See you in Cooperstown!
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