The Derek Jeter Confusion

Derek Jeter.  Some of the most iconic moments in Major League Baseball over the last 15 years included him.  Who can forget the dive into the stands to catch the foul pop against the Red Sox back 2004, or the relay flip against the Athletics in the 2001 ALCS?  Who can forget all of the clutch hits including the Jeffrey Maier flyout.  Derek Jeter is one of the most iconic baseball players of the modern era.

Derek Jeter.  But there is flip side to this.  Forget about the backlash by Internet contrarians and the ridiculous rant by Keith Olbermann.  The statistics show that he was a good but not great hitter.  He never led the league in batting average, on base percentage or OPS.  He led the league in hits twice and runs once.  Conversely, he led the league in plate appearances 5 times.  He never hit more than 25 home runs and drove in more than 100 runs once in his career.  His fielding was below average despite his 5 Gold Glove Awards.  Rarely was he the best player on his team, instead, he was benefited by his longevity, it appears.

Derek Jeter.  It's a tough one to decide where I fall on the Derek Jeter Confusion.  Let's face it.  He spent 20 years with the most famous and successful baseball team of the last 20 years.  His most iconic moments would never have happened if he played with the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Kansas City Royals.  In other words he was a product of his circumstances not the cause of it.  For that, this retirement is a non-story.  The logical side of my brain is telling me that I shouldn't care.

But yet here I am watching his last two games as a New York Yankee.  The emotional side is making me care about this.  You would figure that the Red Sox and Yankees playing each other at the end of September would actually mean something, but instead both teams were out of playoff contention.  These last games mean absolutely nothing, yet you can't get into the game tomorrow for less than $200 per ticket.

Re2pect.  Derek Jeter is getting a lot of respect these days.  Gatorade and Nike have both come out with their own version of Derek Jeter tributes.  Every park Jeter goes to he is greeted by cheering fans and gifts from teams.  Memorabilia featuring Jeter's likeness is selling for hundreds and thousands of dollars.  And the respect extends to the JMR household.

C and I both have different things going on today.  When I get home, he and a buddy are watching the game that I had DVRed.  I sit down and ask him to rewind to Jeter's at bats.  It doesn't really matter that he strikes out and chops an infield single to Short.  I wanted to get chills watching the fans (mostly Yankee fans now) cheer Jeter and break out the "Der-ek Je-ter" chant.  That what we really wanted to see.  Who cares if he gets a hit or strikes out.  I mean they even trot out David Ortiz to talk about the Captain. 

I then turn to C and tell him "This can be you if you work hard at baseball."

He just laughed and shook his head.  RE2PECT.

Baseball Instant Replay Needs to go to the Challenge Flag Rule

Baseball instant replay is a perfect complement to the game itself. With so many calls being made every game that either require split second decisions or inch by inch judgments being made from hundreds of feet away, baseball is begging for expanded instant replay.  Get the challenge flags ready.


We were watching Game 4 of the Yankees and Rangers ALCS when two unbelievable calls were made on back-to-back hitters. First Robinson Cano hit a deep fly ball into right field at the NEW Yankee Stadium. As the Texas Rangers’ Rightfielder, Nelson Cruz, was jumping up to catch the ball, a couple of Yankees fans reached over the wall and interfered with Cruz. They did’nt touch the ball, but interfered with Cruz’s glove in such a way that he couldn’t make the catch. As soon as I saw it I started pointing at the TV and yelling “Jeffrey Maier, Jeffrey Maier” Why weren’t they using instant replay on this call? Isn’t this one of the reasons why instant replay was introduced – to decide if a home run was caused by fan interference?

“Who’s Jeffrey Maier?” my 6 year old asked. “Is he someone you work with?”

“How do you know that guy. It looked like he gave people the finger” my 8 year old asked quizzically. I then started to explain about an identical play that happened in the 1996 ALDS where the lowly Orioles were on their way to victory when a Derek Jeter (Interesting that Derek Jeter is involved in every controversial call – maybe I’m too hard on ARod…) fly ball was caught by Maier as he reached his glove out into the field and gave the Yankees a home run, the lead in Game 1, and ultimately the ALDS win. Not surprisingly my 8 year old was stunned that the Orioles were ever in the playoffs.

As I was explaining the Jeffrey Maier “non-home run,” Lance Berkman launched a drive down the Right Field line. Despite the fact that the playoff games include about 15 umpires, they still got the call wrong. I think I was scaring everyone when I yelled at the TV “That was foul! Christ!”

After giving each of my sons a quarter for swearing, I noticed that the umpires were actually going to look at this home run on instant replay. Thank God because that was at least three feet foul and there was no question that it wasn’t high enough to be OVER the foul pole. After weighing the options of getting the call right and being pelted with batteries and beer bottles by the Yankees’ fans, the umpires finally emerged from the dugout area and called the Berkman shot a foul ball. At least they got one call right. Although I have to wonder, the same umpire called both Cano’s and Berkman’s home runs. I didn’t explain to anyone what I was thinking at that moment.

But as I was explaining what I thought the rule was to the boys, I was asked why they didn’t look at out calls and strikes. I then started wondering what the rule really is.

According to Major League Baseball, In 2008, instant replay was introduced to look at three things: fair or foul home runs, whether the ball actually left the playing field and whether the ball was subject to spectator interference.

Wasn’t the Robinson Cano Home Run at least subject to review under these rules? Why didn’t they review it?

When introduced in August 2008 (nice of Bud Selig to change the rules midway through the season), Selig stated that video technology had improved to the point that instant replay would be helpful in limited circumstances. Selig must have turned on his TV one day and wondered aloud what “Blue Ray,” “HDTV” and “DVR” all meant, finally figuring out that he didn’t need to review grainy video tapes anymore. I guess he hadn’t realized that digital and HD cameras have been around for several years and may actually improve the game.

Ever since then, numerous calls have been overturned, leading to correct calls ultimately being made. But is the current instant replay rule in baseball enough? Numerous calls that would otherwise be reviewed would not be reviewed because of the Limited Instant Replay Rule. I think baseball instant replay would be more meaningful if they created a challenge rule similar to the NFL. Each Manager gets two replay challenges per game. They each receive an additional challenge if the game goes into extra innings. I guess until that happens, I’ll keep yelling at my TV.

Visit my baseball calls that would have benefited from instant replay page at Squidoo.

Photographs courtesy of Newark Star Ledger and Fanhouse.