After Derek Jeter fouled off consecutive full-count pitches in the third inning on Saturday, the Yankee Stadium organist tickled the ivories to the tune of “Let’s-Go, Yank-ees!” Impulsively, the 48,103 fans who made up the sold-out crowd responded by chanting “De-rek, Je-ter!”
On a picture-perfect afternoon in the Bronx, the Yankees and Jeter were one and the same.
Jeter acted on cue, recording his 3,000th career hit on the very next pitch by lacing a David Price curveball to left field for a solo home run. In becoming the first player in franchise history to reach the 3,000-hit plateau, Jeter went 5-for-5, carrying the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Rays.
Hard to write a better script than that, isn’t it? Click the link to see the video, since you can’t embed from MLB.com. Congratulations to the Captain, Derek Jeter, on reaching this milestone. May there be many more hits left in the tank. See you in Cooperstown later this decade. Be sure to read this Joe Posnanski appreciation for a great perspective on his career, and maybe a few things you didn’t know.
This is unquestionably a great thing for Jeter, but I’m still astonished that he’s the first Yankee to do it.
Maybe I shouldn’t be. Ted Williams “only” got to 2,654 hits in his career (‘course, five years in the military during WW II and Korea hurt his stats terribly). Amazingly, Williams never got 200 hits in a single season. http://goo.gl/35aei
Gehrig would have gotten there had it not been for his fatal disease. Babe Ruth walked too many times to get 3000 hits, which also affected Williams, though the missed time due to military service was the bigger factor. It is pretty amazing that he’s the first Yankee to do this, that’s for sure.