Farewell Derek Jeter

Goodbye 2014 regular season. It ended yesterday with a Boston fan farewell to Jeter during an oddly meaningless game at Fenway Park. No October baseball for either the Red Sox or the Yankees. When was the last time THAT happened?

The Washington Nationals were tied for the best record in baseball this year. They brought down their regular season curtain with a great flourish as their left fielder made a dazzling diving catch for the last out of Jordan Zimmerman's no-hitter against Miami.

Check this out:

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v36703055/must-c-classic-souza-saves-zimmermanns-nohitter

After that, the Nats are my pick for the World Series.

Today, I perused the final standings for 2014. I was struck by the fact that no team achieved a .600 winning percentage. Only one team, the Diamondbacks, fell below a .400 percentage, and their winning percentage was .395. So with a slight rounding up to the nearest percent, we can say that all 30 teams this year operated between a 40% and a 60% success rate. Parity has come to major league baseball. Each season is a crap shoot. We've seen the Red Sox go from last place to World Series winner and back to last place in the last three seasons. Amazing? No. I think that will be the new norm.

Now, about Jeter. How great was he? Did you see Keith Olberman's critical assessments of Jeter's career? Here they are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__UJ9VZB508

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xafiSZO_r2g

Olberman concedes that Jeter is a Hall of Famer, but notes some negative entries in Jeter's account. As far as I'm concerned, Olberman's points are well taken.

Jeter reminds me of the Dodger hero of my boyhood -- Pee Wee Reese. Pee Wee was a rookie in 1940. Before Pee Wee the Dodger shortstop was their player-manager -- Leo Durocher. You'll never see THAT again. In 1941, Leo retired as a player and Pee Wee became the everyday shortstop on a team that went to their first World Series in 20 years only to lose to (who else?) the Yankees, in 5 games.

Pee Wee was the every day shortstop in 1942, then he lost what would have been 3 prime years in his career to military service. From 1946 until his retirement after the 1959 season he, like Jeter played shortstop, and only shortstop. Pee Wee was good. But nothing in his stats is eye-popping. Here is his baseball almanac page:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=reesepe01

If you can compare players from different eras by their statistics, then Jeter was clearly better than Reese. Reese is in the Hall of Fame. Why? Longevity counts for a lot in Hall of Fame voting. And being a captain of a team that goes through a golden age of great success helps too. Both Reese and Jeter earned the acclaim and adoration they attracted. But let's be real, and not exaggerate their excellence as ballplayers.