The Jeterian Code

Midtown, 2008

A co-worker sent out an e-mail for an assignment yesterday, but added a twist. Next to each person on the list, attributed a saying, slogan or tall tale praising Derek Jeter, the joke being that Jeter is often adored/celebrated/defended by fans to the point of hagiography. This co-worker is not much for blogs or social media (he may be the last person of my generation I know who doesn't have a Facebook account, a Twitter account OR a blog -- not even a Tumblr or Instagram account), so I asked if I could borrow his list for a post here. All he asked was that I leave his name out of it. What follows is mostly his doing, though I omitted and altered a few that were inside office jokes.

So here then is The Jeterian Code, by a Co-Worker To Be Named Later. This list, of course, could be easily expanded. And neither the co-worker or I are claiming these are original ideas; maybe someone out there has uttered some of these before. But they were new to us.

• Columbus didn't discover America, Jeter did
• Zeus bows down before Jeter
• WWJD stands for "What Would Jeter Do?"
• Derek Jeter is the Keymaster
• A.D. is no longer Anno Domini, it's now After Derek
• Jeter's No. 2 is retired by all Nippon Professional Baseball clubs
• Jeter is ticklish behind his parietal lobe
• Dinosaurs were wiped off the earth by Jeter
• JetBlue is renamed to JeterBlue
• November shall now be known as Jetember
• Santa has a Naughty, Nice and Jeter list
• Jeter's birthday designated a galaxy-wide holidayJeter is the Keymaster
• When you search for Jeter in a lexicon, it says "See 'God'"
• No. 2 on calendars changed to the No. Jeter
• Jeter knows the way to San Jose
• The sun revolves around Jeter
• Jeter was the man standing in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square
• Jeter can read upside down
• Melky Cabrera tested positive for too much Jeter
• When Jeter retires, the Yanks will retire the position of SS
• Jeter is Luke's father
• DJ is a new element on the periodic table

Getting 3,000 in New York

So now it looks like Derek Jeter's return to the Yankees lineup may be delayed, which would further delay his march to 3,000 hits and reduce the likelihood that he records the milestone hit against the Mets at Citi Field during their July 1-3 Interleague series.

And I think that's a shame.

No, really. I think it would have been a good thing to have happen not just at the Mets' home ballpark, but in New York in general. Not only has no Yankee ever reached the 3,000-hit threshold, but none of the 27 players who have already gotten there collected the milestone in New York.

If Jeter is able to be activated from the disabled list on Wednesday, the first day he's eligible to return, he'd have two games at home and three at Citi Field to collect the six hits he needs. Any delay in his activation obviously affects the timetable, increasing the chances that the lasting images of No. 3,000 will feature Jeter in the road grays and a respectful but half-hearted ovation from the home crowd. After Citi Field, the Yankees play three in Cleveland before finishing out the first half at home against the Rays. If he doesn't get it before the All-Star break, the Yankees open the second half with eight on the road -- four each at Toronto and Tampa Bay. Granted, Tropicana Field is a home away from home for the Yankees, but do we really want to be left with images of a base hit on bright green synthetic turf and a shadowy, artifically lit photo of Jeter doffing his helmet under a closed roof?

Getting the hit at Citi Field might be good for the Mets -- and their fans -- as well. Imagine Fred Wilpon watching that ovation from all the Yankee fans in the house, perhaps supported by a respectful cheer from the Mets partisans as well. Then, Wilpon might look over at Jose Reyes at shortstop or imagine David Wright healthy and standing at third base. If Jeter's getting such a rousing ovation for getting his 3,000th hit in the home of the Mets, imagine what the roar of the crowd would be if Reyes or Wright did the same sometime around 2022. Maybe Carl Crawford isn't worth Reyes money.

Entering this year, Reyes averaged 140 hits per season -- which takes into account his injury history -- which would mean he'd eclipse 3,000 sometime during his 22nd year in the big leagues. That's certainly a stretch, considering how important his speed is to his game and the demanding position he plays. But considering the tear he is on this season -- on pace for 231 hits entering tonight's game in Texas -- and his reduced strikeout rate, perhaps he's finally put it all together and, barring injuries, could average significantly more than 140 per year through the rest of his prime. Should he finish 2011 with 231 hits, he'd be at 1,350 and his yearly average would be 150 per season. At that rate, he'd get to 3,000 right at the end of his 20th year. Having just passed his 28th birthday this month, Reyes would be 39 at the end of his 20th season in the Majors. (Looking at Reyes' healthiest and most productive peak thus far, the four seasons from 2005-08, he averaged 159 games and 194 hits per year, so when he's not on the DL, he's much closer to a 190/200-hit-per-year pace than 140/150.)

While it's certainly unlikely, it's not unprecedented for a player known more for speed than power -- since World War II -- to last long enough in the game to get there. Lou Brock did it at 40 in his 19th and final season (he averaged 187 per year). And contact hitters Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Pete Rose and Rod Carew all got there without being long-ball or stolen-base threats. Roberto Clemente could fit into that group as well; he never hit 30 home runs in a season and finished with 240, fewer than Robin Yount or Craig Biggio (and more than Rose, Brock, Gwynn, Boggs, Carew and several early-century guys). And Reyes' .290 career batting average bests Rafael Palmeiro (.288), Eddie Murray (.287), Carl Yastrzemski (.285), Yount (.285), Dave Winfield (.283), Biggio (.281), Rickey Henderson (.279) and Cal Ripken (.276).

Obviously, Reyes will have to make some tweaks and adapt his game as he gets older, but if this year is any indication, perhaps he can become continue his improvements and remain a solid contact hitter and on-base threat. And maybe a switch to first or second base or the outfield down the line will allow him to play long enough to get to 3,000 hits. I'm not saying it's probable, but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.

Watching the good Doctor work

Late last night, Marty Noble put up a blog post reminiscing about crooner Johnny Maestro and hurler Doc Gooden, and it brought up some memories of my own that I didn't include in my post about Gooden's Nike billboard in Midtown.

I was 10 in 1986, and the two games I did see that year were started by Sid Fernandez (8-2 on June 20!) and Rick Aguilera (he homered!). I didn't catch Gooden until he faced the Phillies on Opening Day 1991, my first opener and definitely a thrilling one because my parents let me miss school to go. Sometime during that offseason, I asked (probably begged) my parents to buy tickets and call me in sick to school. They agreed -- "Just this once" -- and Dad took the bullet by calling out sick himself and driving my friend Will (he might've actually been off on his Catholic high school's two-week Easter break, but his parents would've let him go anyway) and me to Queens. It truly would've pained my dad to take the day off and make the two-hour drive from the Jersey Shore, across Staten Island, up the BQE and down Northern Boulevard (before the internet and GPS, he took the most direct route, rather than the fastest, which is the BQE to the Grand Central Parkway). He's a Mets fan, but he prefers to watch on TV; Will's a Yankees fan, but he's not the dick kind that starts chanting "Let's go Yankees!" on Opening Day in Queens.

Traffic near Shea was a mess, and the parking lot where Citi Field now stands was full by the time we arrived. So we wouldn't miss the first pitch, Will and I got out of the car and walked across the lot and reached our seats in the left-field mezzanine with time to spare. Dad had to park somewhere in or near Flushing Meadows Park and caught up to us in the second inning, I believe. By then, the Mets were already ahead, 1-0, after Vince Coleman doubled down the right-field line in his first Mets at-bat and Gregg Jefferies followed with a double down the left-field line.

Gooden was on his game that day, getting through the first needing only 13 pitches to get Lenny Dykstra to fly out and fanning Darren Daulton and Von Hayes on seven total pitches. Doc went eight innings, allowing six hits and a walk and striking out seven. His only mistake was a 1-2 pitch to John Kruk leading off the fifth. Kruk belted a line-drive homer over the Mets bullpen in right field and hit one of the Phillies' buses parked beyond the 'pen.

The other game was on July 8, 2000, the Shea Stadium end of the first day-night Mets-Yankees doubleheader in both boroughs. Doc won that one, too -- for the Yankees, in his former home. I'm pretty sure that remains the loudest ovation given a Yankee in Queens since interleague play began, and the only time Mets and Yankees fans cheered in unison. That included myself and a college pal, Brad, another Yankees fan (he grew up in the Bronx suburb of Fort Wayne, Indiana). The game was Doc's first in his second stint with the Yankees, following his release by the Devil Rays, and it was his final victory at Shea. He won only three more games in his career.

So Gooden's combined stat line in the two games I saw him pitch reads like this:

13 IP, 12 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, .249 BAA, 1.08 WHIP, 2.08 ERA
He only struck out one Met that day, and his performace was overshadowed by the night game -- also a 4-2 Yankees win -- in which Roger Clemens beaned Mike Piazza, giving him a concussion and keeping him out of that year's All-Star Game.

It was clear from the beginning of the day game that the former Mets would do in the current Mets. Chuck Knoblauch led off the game by lining the first pitch to center for a hit, but Jay Payton threw him out at second base. After Yankees first-base coach Lee Mazzilli appealed to first-base umpire Robb Cook that first baseman Todd Zeile had interfered with Knoblauch, the call was overturned. Bobby Valentine argued and was objected, even though he was right -- the call was crap. Zeile barely moved from his position in the field, and Knoblauch took an unusually wide turn around first base. Valentine argued that Knoblauch never changed direction or came into contact with Zeile, but the blind umps wouldn't budge. I distinctly remember Valentine repeatedly and demonstratively walking in Knoblauch's footsteps on the otherwise pristine, freshly dragged infield to make his point. It's still a bullshit call. Knoblauch should've been out and Derek Jeter, who followed with an RBI double, should have one fewer RBI among his career totals.

There is one more memory of seeing Gooden in person, though he didn't pitch. Dad also took Will and me to the final weekend home game in 1989. The Expos won, 6-5, on Fan Appreciation Day (remember those?). Howard Johnson stole his 40th base and Darryl Strawberry hit his 29th home run. But the highlight came before the game, when Will and I were hanging over the railing at the end of the right-field loge, watching David Cone warm up for the start in the Mets bullpen. At one point, Gooden emerged from the small clubhouse beneath us and we called down to him, hoping we might get one of the baseballs lying on the grass. He didn't toss us a ball, but he looked up with a smile and a wave, and that made our day more than anything that happened in the game.

Jeter rules Jersey

I was kicking around Baseball-Reference's birth sites and, after some sorting, made a minor discovery: If Derek Jeter plays 150 games this season, he'll have played more games in the majors than any other New Jersey-born player.



(Full chart is here.)

Of course, Jeet grew up in Michigan, but it's no secret that he spent summers with his grandparents in the Garden State. He's already got the hits record, and if he plays just another year or two, he could pretty much own every mark on this list -- except for years. Kid Gleason's pretty much got that one locked up, unless Jeter makes it all the way to 42 or 43.

Relax, it's not that Jeter

I'm not buying the New York Post's claim that Derek Jeter is getting married on Nov. 5 on Long Island.

Let's look at the Post's reasoning: Someone saw the name Jeter -- no first name -- in the reservations book at Oheka Castle on Long Island for the weekend of Nov. 5, 2010. They say it's two days after the end of the World Series, so it won't interfere with the chase for No. 28. And they say it's feasible that Jeter and Minka Kelly could get married there because it was good enough for Kevin Jonas.

But let's rate the red flags, shall we?

The place. Huntington may be fine for a Jonas brother, but I don't see it for the Kelly-Jeter wedding. No offense. Jeter is more of a Hamptons guy, a Waldorf guy, or a destination-wedding guy. He'd fly everyone to St. Bart's or to his estate in Tampa for a much more private affair than anything a public venue could provide. (Three red flags)

The date. I don't like this timing. The World Series dates haven't been finalized yet, so there's no way the Post could say definitively that Nov. 5 is two days after it ends. Plus, according to that Wikipedia page, the latest end date would be Nov. 4, just one day before this Jeter wedding. Of course, it's likely to be earlier after last year's plague of off-days and inactivity. But I just don't believe that Derek Jeter -- the captain, Mr. Yankee -- would cut it that close. Even if the Series ends on Nov. 3, who's to say that Game 7 would be in New York? What if it's in Los Angeles? So Game 7 ends late on Nov. 3 in L.A. Either the Yankees fly home immediately or the next morning; either way, Nov. 4 is a lost day. And if they win, there will be a parade. On Nov. 5 or 6, perhaps. Like he'd really schedule his wedding so soon after the Series? Come on.

The name. As it says at the close of the story (note how they bury perhaps the biggest argument against the whole premise), it's highly unlikely his actual name would've been put in the ledger. And even if they did use a real name, why not Minka's? Why not simply write "Kelly," a name so common it would hardly draw any attention? And Jeter isn't as uncommon a name as you might think. A search of Jeter in New York on whitepages.com brought up more than 100 results.

The whole story reminds me of my tenure at a celebrity gossip magazine, where a tip with very little background would lead to a reporter posing as a customer, the results of which would not solidify the story the editors had in mind, but they'd work with what they had.

I could certainly be wrong, but based on what I know about tabloid journalism and celebrity stalking, not to mention the kind of person Jeter is, I'd say that maybe 2 percent of that story is true -- Jeter and Kelly are a couple, and they might get married in November. That's about all I'd bet on at this point.

Now batting, numbah two ...

Derek Jeter tied Mickey Mantle on Sunday night for the most at-bats in Yankees history: 8,102. That minor milestone doesn't really do much for me.

Next year is when it will be interesting. To this point in his career, Jeter compiled those 8,102 at-bats in 9,173 plate appearances. As this season progresses, he'll pass Babe Ruth (9,197 plate appearances) and probably Lou Gehrig (9,660) to move into second place on that list. And then, sometime in 2010, Jeter will step to the plate for the 9,910th time in pinstripes (or in gray polyester -- or CoolBase, if the Yankees are on the road) -- and pass Mantle. At that point, no player will have stood in the batter's box as a Yankee more than Derek Jeter.

And that will be something. Think about it: In all of Yankees lore, from Ruth to Gehrig to DiMaggio to Yogi to Mantle to Reggie to Mattingly to Jeter, of all those Hall of Famers and legends, it will be Jeter -- the most recent icon -- with more Yankees experience than any other. Ruth and Gehrig, Joe D. and Yogi, they're all larger-than-life. Many of us have seen only black-and-white photos or old footage. But Jeter is in HD (though his haircut somehow remains stuck in the early 90s). Yankees history books will literally have to be rewritten, because No. 2 will be greater than 3, 4, 5 or 7 in many ways.

They'll have to do more than just retire his number, but I'm sure they planned for that when they laid out the new Monument Park.

In a change for baseball, A-Rod says something

An article in The New Yorker this week (and last week, this being a well-deserved double issue) sorts out some misconceptions when it comes to famous quotations.

Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson.” Neither Ingrid Bergman nor anyone else in “Casablanca” says “Play it again, Sam”; Leo Durocher did not say “Nice guys finish last”; Vince Lombardi did say “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” quite often, but he got the line from someone else. Patrick Henry almost certainly did not say “Give me liberty, or give me death!”; William Tecumseh Sherman never wrote the words “War is hell”; and there is no evidence that Horace Greeley said “Go west, young man.”

Yogi Berra is mentioned in the piece as well, quite amusingly, in fact: "... when Yogi Berra said 'I didn’t really say everything I said' he was correct."

But at least it's refreshing to think that athletes and coaches once said something of substance when interviewed. Talking to high school football players after a game can often be painful for a reporter, and the media coaching scene in Bull Durham was funny because it's true. Baseball America does us a service when it recaps the minor league season each September with some of the best quotations from some of the game's best prospects.

So it was news today when Alex Rodriguez spoke frankly about his relationship with Derek Jeter and how it is no longer as tight as it once was. I particularly liked when he spoke freely about his contract: "I love being the highest-paid player in the game. It's pretty cool. I like making that money."

Personally, I'm not sure if this Rodriguez-New York relationship can work, but I did admire the player before he joined The Empire, and I'd prefer not to hate him, even if I hate the Yankees. Sadly, he'll enter the Hall of Fame as a Yankee, but at least he'll reclaim the all-time home run crown and remove the stain that is sure to affix itself sometime this season when it's no longer held by Hank Aaron. And then, by the time Albert Pujols is done, it might be held by a Cardinal for the first time since Babe Ruth knocked Roger Connor down a notch.

All is Wright with the Mets

Four years ago, I covered the South Atlantic League All-Star Game in New Jersey, and that's when I met David Wright. The Mets' affiliate in the league was in Columbia, South Carolina, at the time, a team in the league's southern division that had not -- and did not over the rest of the season, if I recall -- visit Lakewood that season. As a Mets fan, I looked at the rosters to see what prospects the organization had, and I was intrigued by a name I had not heard before.

Wright wasn't voted a starter, but he essentially put himself on the minor-league map with that selection. He had been a supplemental first-round draft pick, but until that point, I hadn't read much about him; after that, I knew the name and noticed when it appeared in print.

For some reason, I made a point to talk to Wright. It wasn't too much of a stretch, once he came in second in the Southern Division in the pregame home run derby, but even before that outcome, I told myself to make a point to talk to the young third baseman who might be a Met someday. I had a better feeling about Wright than I did about reserve outfielder Angel Pagan or starting catcher Justin Huber and starting left fielder Jeff Duncan. Huber I had already talked to, at the previous night's welcome dinner, mainly because he had already been chosen to represent the Mets -- and Australia -- on the World Team in the Futures Game.

Wright was the runner-up to then-Atlanta farmhand Andy Marte, falling by a point in a scoring system created to account for the difficulty of hitting one out at Lakewood's FirstEnergy Park. Any fly ball that reached the warning track earned a point, hits off the wall garnered two points, and home runs were worth four. Wright's 28 points were one short of Marte's total. But I spoke to Wright because, at that time, neither my Spanish nor Marte's English were good enough to allow for an interview of the victor.

Even with the difficult surroundings, Wright hit six homers, one short of his season total at the time. The power was there, though we didn't see it after the derby; he pinch-hit and had two at-bats as the designated hitter, going 0-for-2.

"I just didn't want to embarrass myself," he told me then. "Going up there first, there's a lot of pressure."

Wright was just 19 at the time, and the thinking was that he and Marte might be facing off as division rivals not far in the future. It might have happened, had the Braves not traded Marte to the Red Sox this past winter.

"I knew he had a lot of power and it was going to be tough for mine to stand up," Wright said of his showdown with Marte. "Until that last swing, I was hoping."

Wright lost that battle, but he could be the first player from that South Atlantic League All-Star game to make the one at the top level. This week, he moved into first among National League third baseman in voting for this season's All-Star Game.

But he won't be alone. The Phillies' Ryan Howard -- a member of the hometown BlueClaws in that '02 SAL game -- and Padres starter Chris Young, then an Expos prospect and the game's winning pitcher, both have numbers that should warrant consideration from NL manager Phil Garner. Howard currently ranks third in the voting, behind the Majors' leading vote-getter, Albert Pujols, and the Mets' Carlos Delgado.

Wright has quickly gone from prospect to star, and he's on the verge of becoming a superstar. For the past few months -- mostly leading up to this season -- he's been called the Queens answer to the Yankee star power of Derek Jeter, the King of New York.

That might be a shared title now.

All the right moves for the Yanks ... for once

The thing that strikes me about the Yankees' signing of Johnny Damon is that they needed him. Not for leadoff, necessarily, because I think the Yanks are just fine with Derek Jeter batting first and Alex Rodriguez or Hideki Matsui or, if he could develop into a decent contact and doubles hitter, Robinson Cano batting second. But they needed a centerfielder and at this point they weren't going to find much in free agency if they didn't get Damon. Based on their policy this offseason of hanging onto Cano, Chien-Ming Wang and prospects like Eric Duncan and Philip Hughes, the Yankees weren't going to get a centerfielder through a trade. In that scenario, Juan Pierre was probably the most likely, but when he went to the Cubs, he was out. I suppose they could've explored a deal for Texas' David Dellucci, Seattle's Jeremy Reed (and the rumors of him heading to Boston will only intensify until the Red Sox get someone to fill Damon's spot) or the Cubs' Corey Patterson.

But the most important acquisition this offseason for the Yankees was not Damon or any one player. It was all the players because they filled the needs in center and the bullpen. You can see the difference this winter: Brian Cashman was spearheading the signings this time, not anyone in the Tampa braintrust. These moves fill holes and help the Yankees first and foremost. In recent years, the moves have been more for the wow factor, to make a splash, to grab the headlines. If the Yankees were going to deal a catching prospect and a good young pitcher in Javier Vazquez for a left-handed pitcher, they might've been better off going after a younger, healthier guy like Barry Zito or Mark Mulder (who was available last winter) instead of Randy Johnson.

Instead, the Yanks went after need:

Damon. As has been pointed out in so many places, this deal not only helps the Yankees, it hurts the Red Sox. More than one pundit has moved the Blue Jays up as the second-best team in the AL East and slid Boston down. That may change if the Sox fill Damon's hole with Ken Griffey Jr. or Andruw Jones (HA! Kidding.) and find a shortstop in Miguel Tejada. But for now, Toronto may be closer to wild-card contention than we had a right to expect a few days ago.

Now, I don't know if Damon is a better leadoff hitter than Jeter (and the numbers favor Jeter), but he's one of the best in the game today and it certainly doesn't hurt to move everyone down a spot to accommodate Damon. You think Damon will get some good pitches to hit with Jeter and Rodriguez coming up after him? There's no way pitchers want to walk Damon and risk leaving a hole on the right side for Jeter to slap that ball through, or to create a situation where A-Rod is batting with two men on base. It'll be sad to see the hair go, however. Yankee fans will want to hope that his powers aren't tied to his long locks.

Mike Myers. Another signing that takes from the Red Sox to give to the Yankees (robbing from the super-rich to give to the mega-uber-rich). The left-handed specialist will come in handy in the late innings against some big (or at least capable) bats both in and out of the division: David Ortiz, Aubrey Huff, Lyle Overbay, Carlos Delgado, Jim Thome, Mark Teixeira and Travis Hafner to name a few. Myers is often a one-out guy, but he's one of the best.

Kyle Farnsworth. Fantasy owners keep wanting Farnsworth to be a closer, but it appears that Farnsworth keeps wanting to get out of it. Without going back to look at reports, I don't know why the Cubs traded him to the Tigers last year, but Chicago struggled to find a closer in 2005 until they moved starter Ryan Dempster there and they could've used him. Then the Braves acquired him from Detroit last year and used him as a closer, a job he seemingly would've kept had he re-signed with Atlanta. Instead, he took a setup role, more money and a perceived better chance at a championship ring to be a Yankee. But when you look at Tom Gordon's age and the uninspiring careers of New York's other potential right-handed setup guys, Farnsworth stands out as perhaps the best option.

Octavio Dotel. After major arm surgery last season, it's not clear when Dotel will be available. But just as they did with Jon Lieber when he was coming off Tommy John surgery (and a 20-win season), the Yankees made an investment for the future, knowing that if Dotel can be healthy by July, it will be like acquiring a setup man in a trade before the deadline. The Mets were trying to sign Dotel for the same reason, a move that would've been just as important for them as it is for the Yanks.

So rather than going out and bringing in Brian Giles to move him to centerfield (a move that would've been more for the wow factor than need), the Yankees didn't look for the splashiest move this winter. They seemed to consider more options and evaluate more players and then make the move that was the best fit for them. (I left the re-signing of Hideki Matsui out because it's a slightly different situation when you're talking about a capable, All-Star you already have. Besides, the "need" in left field would have only been there if Matsui signed elsewhere.)

And I'm sure George Steinbrenner didn't have to be convinced too much to steal the Red Sox centerfielder.