Jayson Stark sets Keith Olbermann straight on Derek Jeter
Keith Olbermann made New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter the focal point of his latest monologue to open his show on ESPN 2.
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Olbermann decided to go after Derek Jeter, saying that “he is not one of the greatest players ever, he did not invent baseball and he did not discover electricity.”
Jayson Stark, and a number of baseball fans, took exception to that.
Jayson Stark appeared on Mike and Mike this morning to set the Olbermann straight. While Olbermann pointed to home runs and MVP awards as basis for his theory, he seemingly forgot to factor in the position that Derek Jeter plays for the New York Yankees.
In baseball, pitcher, center field, and shortstop, remain three of the most vital positions for an organization. As Stark noted, Jeter has a career on base percentage, spanning 2,743 games, of .377. That number ranks him 7th all time among shortstops, and only notably behind Honus Wagner.
Jeter also has 3,461 hits in his career. Olbermann mentioned Cal Ripken Jr. as a superior player, however Ripken had nearly 300 fewer hits in almost 300 more career games. Also noted by Stark, Jeter has nearly played a full season’s worth of playoff games (158 games).
In that time, he has slashed to the tune of a .308/.374/.465 line with 20 home runs.
As Mike Golic and Ryen Russillo put it when Stark hopped off the show on Wednesday morning, Keith is allowed to have his opinion, but many disagree with him.
You can listen to the entire show here.
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