$202,000 Jeter Card

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by todeen

+1

I live in Washington state. When Jeter announced his retirement, I realized I had never seen him live. So I bought tickets in February to his last home series in Seattle versus the Mariners. I'm not even a Yankees fan! I even took my toddler so he could say when he's 65 that he went to a Derek Jeter game (granted he can't remember it). We sat out in the section that is normally "King's Corner" with the Felix Hernandez fans. I'm not lying that I hardly saw a Mariner's jersey in that corner. We were surrounded by people who had New York accents. He is an icon. Biggest player of my generation. I doubt that will be the last Jeter card to hit that number. Mike Trout might be a better player, but unless he gets those WS rings, he won't compete with Jeter for legendary status.

I’m a life long Yankee fan, but I honestly have never drunk the kool-aid when it came to Jeter. Granted, he was a great player. However, in my mind, he was never better than the third best player on the Yankees for most of his career. I consider Mariano and Arod to be above him. I also thought that Jeter was somewhat selfish when he refused to move from shortstop when Arod, a better shortstop, came to the Yankees. I think mentioning him in the same breath as Brady and Jordan is absolutely crazy.

[Nunzio11]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I’m a life long Yankee fan, but I honestly have never drunk the kool-aid when it came to Jeter. Granted, he was a great player. However, in my mind, he was never better than the third best player on the Yankees for most of his career. I consider Mariano and Arod to be above him. I also thought that Jeter was somewhat selfish when he refused to move from shortstop when Arod, a better shortstop, came to the Yankees. I think mentioning him in the same breath as Brady and Jordan is absolutely crazy.

Agreed, I could have been more specific. i was speaking strictly from a popularity standpoint, not as status as the greatest in their sport. For many different reasons Jeter’s popularity transcended his sport into the mainstream like Jordan and Brady where the casual or even non fan recognizes then.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The irony is that for the second half of his career Jeter played with a guy who was the far superior baseball player, but the unique circumstances just fueled Jeter's popularity.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The irony is that for the second half of his career Jeter played with a guy who was the far superior baseball player, but the unique circumstances just fueled Jeter's popularity.

Are you referring to the guy that was on steroids his entire career?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Are you referring to the guy that was on steroids his entire career?

A major factor in the Jeter perfect storm, the image (true or not) of the squeaky clean boy next door amid the sea of cheaters.

[robw1959]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

A major factor in the Jeter perfect storm, the image (true or not) of the squeaky clean boy next door amid the sea of cheaters.

I don't know about "squeaky" clean. I recall a time when I was watching a game on TV, and he asserted that a pitched ball had struck him, and was then awarded first base. The slow-mo replay clearly showed that the ball completely missed Jeter. The guys in the booth even praised him for his dishonesty, saying something like, "Well you have to give him credit for doing whatever it takes to get to first base and help his team." Just a cringe-worthy moment for the youth of America everywhere to see this icon of the game cheating for his team.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by robw1959

I don't know about "squeaky" clean. I recall a time when I was watching a game on TV, and he asserted that a pitched ball had struck him, and was then awarded first base. The slow-mo replay clearly showed that the ball completely missed Jeter. The guys in the booth even praised him for his dishonesty, saying something like, "Well you have to give him credit for doing whatever it takes to get to first base and help his team." Just a cringe-worthy moment for the youth of America everywhere to see this icon of the game cheating for his team.

Reminds me of ARod swatting the ball out of the pitcher's hand on a close play at first against the Red Sox and claiming it happened as a result of his natural running motion.