Jeter and Today's baseball

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Wow, this board can be pretty irrational and misinformed at times. Never is this more apparent than when discussing the Negro Leagues or Derek Jeter. These are two topics I happen to have interest in. I'm usually pretty good about quietly ignoring these kinds of threads, but this one was too hard to read and stay quiet. I figured this might be a good place for some actual facts.

Whether you like Jeter or not, as you ruminate about the Yankee captain, at least do so with accurate information, not bogus propaganda that the Jeter/Yankee-haters would have you believe:

1. When YOUR team (the team that you play for and are the captain of) makes 12 straight postseasons in a row, you are either very good and one of the main contributors to their success, or very lucky and riding on the coattails of your teammates. Which one describes Derek Jeter?

2. In Jeter's 1st World Series, he did hit .250. That was his 3rd postseason series. In his 1st postseason series he hit .412. In his 2nd postseason series he hit .417. Including his .250 average in the World Series, he hit .361 in his first postseason. Oh, and he was a ROOKIE. Also, his team won.

3. Jeter's career postseason average is .315, not .306.

4. Jeter's career regular season average is .317, not .314.

5. Here are some comparisons the board will love:

TY COBB: .366 career batting average.
DEREK JETER: .317 career batting average.

TY COBB: .262 career postseason batting average.
DEREK JETER: .315 career postseason batting average.

TY COBB: 104 points lower average in postseason than regular season.
DEREK JETER: 2 points lower average in postseason than regular season.

TY COBB: 24 seasons (all full seasons.)
DEREK JETER: In his 12th season (all full seasons.)

TY COBB: 0 World Series rings.
DEREK JETER: 4 World Series rings (and counting.)

TY COBB: = Overrated.
DEREK JETER: = Underrated.

TY COBB: = Alex Rodriguez
DEREK JETER: = Joe DiMaggio

TY COBB: = Wilt Chamberlain
DEREK JETER: = Bill Russell

TY COBB: = Loser
DEREK JETER: = Winner


6. You'll notice that nowhere above did I mention the word "intangibles" to describe what Jeter brings to the playoff table. Anyone who has watched the Yankees in the playoffs from 1996 until now has seen that in action. To argue otherwise means you either haven't been watching, or are so blinded by Jeter/Yankee hatred that you have missed the artistry of one of the greatest winners of our era.

Oddly, one might think that only Red Sox fans could be capable of falling into the "Derek-Jeter-is-Overrated Trap of Misinformation," but my experience has been that most Red Sox fans, as misguided as they are, usually tend to be educated baseball fans who actually watch baseball and know how clutch Jeter is and how important he is to the success of the Yankees. That's why they hate him so much. No, it seems to be Yankee-haters of the non-Red Sox fan variety that hate Derek Jeter the most. Why is that? My guess is that they hate the Yankees so much that they don't even watch them in the playoffs unless it's against their favorite team. This is why they are so misinformed about who Jeter is as a player and what it is that makes him so good. Believe it or not, there are some things that cannot be encapsulated in statistics. Even in baseball.

-Ryan

P.S. If being a fag means making $20,000,000 a year while playing shortstop for the Yankees and sleeping with hot super models, actresses and singers, I'd sure like to know how to become a fag.