MLB All-Star Game: Derek Jeter classic in All-Star finale
It’s not as if we expected Derek Jeter to do anything outside typical Jeter fashion in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. Yet, as Jeter usually does, even the most routine of plays for him were final memorable highlights for everyone else.
Moss: "It was an All-Star Game, but it was Derek Jeter’s last All-Star Game, and that was very special to be a part of."
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) July 16, 2014
Jeter went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double down the right field line to lead off the bottom of the first and a single to right field and had a diving stop at short which nearly robbed Andrew McCutchen of a hit in the top of the first inning in the American League’s 5-3 win over the National League.
leave it to Derek Jeter....to take an ovation and introduction like that and promptly double to right field for the AL's first hit
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 16, 2014
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In fact, Jeter’s performance and his overall first-class professional attitude was so extraordinarily ordinary (for Jeter) that it was perfect. FOX even asked him to wear a mic during the game. Of course, in typical Jeter fashion, he politely declined.
His night ended the same way it began: with Jeter on the field receiving an extended ovation from everyone, fans and his peers alike.
“The game is fun,” Jeter said on FOX’s broadcast of the game. “I’ve always looked forward to being on the field, and getting the opportunity to meet and talk to some guy I’ve admired and respected from afar, guys you don’t get the opportunity to speak much to during the course of the season. But actually getting on the field and playing the game, that’s the fun part.”
Fox invited Derek Jeter to wear a mic for #ASG. He declined. Politely, I assume.
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) July 16, 2014
“I look forward to being out on the field,” he added. “That’s when you get a chance to talk to guys.”
It was obvious that Jeter had fun in his final midsummer classic. The classic Jeter smile made several cameos throughout the night alongside the several shots of Jeter hanging by the edge of the dugout watching his AL teammates play after he was replaced in the fourth inning.
Jeter walked up to both of his at-bats with the voice of the late, great Yankee PA announcer Bob Sheppard’s “Now batting for the American League, the shortstop number two, Derek Jeter. Number two,” that was recorded in the 2008 All-Star Game at Old Yankee Stadium.
White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez replaced Jeter in the top of the fourth inning, signaling the end of an era in baseball.
Jeter ends his All-Star tenure with the second highest batting average in baseball history, hitting .481 in the mid-summer classic. His average is just .019 shy of the Detroit Tiger’s great Charlie Gehringer.
“You try to enjoy it because it’s your last All-Star Game, but we have another game in two days,” Jeter added. “It’s kind of hard to juggle the two. I’m going to enjoy it, savor it, but the season still continues.”
And that’s what makes Derek Jeter who he is. He’s always had the ability to plan things out, see everything before it’s thrown at him. That’s what makes the big moments (the clutch at-bats in the postseason, the milestone moments, Tuesday’s All-Star Game) so effortless for him. While the fans and media treated the All-Star Game as a huge event in tribute of The Captain, Jeter just went about it in typical, ordinary Jeter fashion: as just another day in the office. And that’s what made it another classic night.