It ended differently for my boyhood heroes. Thurman Munson died while practicing takeoffs and landings in his private plane in Canton, Ohio. Dave Winfield somehow got on the wrong side of George Steinbrenner and was traded away. And Don Mattingly suffered a back injury that took away his power. But Derek Jeter, a greater player than any of the others, is simply getting old. He’s not suffering from bad knees like Mickey Mantle. He hasn’t come down with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis like Lou Gehrig.
We probably have to look to Joe DiMaggio to find a parallel of a Yankee great playing until their skills simply began to disappear. And DiMaggio’s last season was Mantle’s first. There are no replacements for Jeter on the Yankee roster. In fact, he has two and a half years left on his new contract. The problem is, he is hitting for an unimpressive average, he isn’t getting on base, and he has almost no power. His range in the field is also diminished.
But, you know what? He’s still the best and smartest and most instinctual baseball player in the league. He’s still the best teammate in the league. He’s still a leader. And, so, as a Yankee fan, I don’t mind too much seeing him struggle. Watching him play is more important than winning. Every kid who plays baseball should have the pleasure of watching Jeter play and seeing how he conducts himself and how he approaches everything about being an athlete.
Jeter never had the most raw talent, but he was always the hardest man to beat. Jeter, Mattingly, and Munson. You can’t have better role models than that.