When Derek Jeter was slowly marching towards his 3,000th hit this past June, the situation was rather depressing. Instead of watching one of the greatest hitters of all-time reach an essential milestone, it felt more like watching a player who was well past his prime slog into the twilight of his career.
Even worse, after years of Jeter being invulnerable to criticism, people in the sports world were taking shots at him left and right. You couldn't have a discussion about the Yankees without hearing about how far in the order Jeter should be moved down, or if he should even be starting. As bad as this all sounds, with his batting average in the .260s, it was all fairly justified.
Then something funny happened. The old Jeter showed up.
When he cracked a towering home run for hit number 3,000, it felt like the good old days. The fact that he went 5-for-5 that day – he even had the game-winning hit – only made things better. The Yankees' greatest modern day hero had returned.
However, people feared that this may be a one-time only performance, and that Jeter was still mired in mediocrity. Luckily, this has been far from true. In the time since then, Jeter's play has been ridiculous. He's cranking out hits left and right and generally looking more confident than he's been at any point since 2009.
As a lifelong Yankees fan – and a diehard Jeter fan – it's been nothing less than magnificent to watch. I thought I had lost him forever. Maybe all the trash talking about him from opposing fans – mostly in Boston – was finally getting to me, but I had begun to wonder if he was truly washed up. Now, as the Yankees prepare to make a run for the World Series, I'm no longer worried about it.
If he continues on such a tear, Jeter will find his career put in a whole new perspective. The biggest argument against Jeter is that he's just very good, but not great, and that the good fortune of playing for the Yankees has led to him being overrated.
If he plays at a quality level for 20 seasons and finishes in the top 10 all-time in hits, those arguments would fall by the wayside, and Jeter's enduring excellence would be undeniable.
Admittedly, there's no guarantee that this will happen. He might not be able to keep up this strong hitting in 2012. Heck, he might not even be able to keep it up through the rest of the season. Still, for the time being, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
Jeter's average has been creeping near .300 lately, and I'd love to see him hit the mark at the end of the year. Not because I think a .300 average means what it used to (Sabermetrics killed that for good), but because of what it would symbolize – that one of the greatest hitters of the past 20 years is still pretty darn good.
Email: john.hugar@ubspectrum.com
