LAST OF HIS KIND
Don't hold your breath for next Monument Park induction
SUNDAY is one of those days at Yankee Stadium that feels and looks different than other days in ballparks not located in The Bronx.
Derek Jeter gets No. 2 retired and a plaque in Monument Park, a place behind the centerfield fence that is swollen with baseball royalty.
Babe, Lou, The Mick, Joe D and The Boss have monuments out there. Yogi, Whitey, Mo, Reggie, Casey and “Mr. T,’’ as Jeter called Joe Torre, have plaques.
Other teams have areas to honor their greats. Nobody else comes close to the Yankees, because their names are some of the biggest in the game’s history.
Now, Jeter takes his place at the table, and if days like Sunday pebble your skin, if maybe you enjoy another sliver of your youth moving toward the sunset with pleasant memories or if having Jeter join the other immortal Yankees makes for a wonderful day, drink it in slowly. Because when Jeter is done talking and the cover is removed from his plaque around 7 p.m. Sunday, it is going to be a very long time before the Yankees need another plaque or retire another number.
You want to argue that Jeter, sixth on baseball’s all-time hit list (3,465) and perhaps the last Yan- kees captain, deserves more than a plaque? Have at it. And who is to say Jeter and Mariano Rivera eventually won’t be upgraded to monuments? You believe there are too many plaques? No argument. The Yankees retire too many numbers? Sure.
Yet, remember this: The Yankees not only own the bat and ball. They own the Stadium and ultimately own what everybody else simply rents: themselves. So they can do whatever they want, and even when lesser lights than Jeter were honored their day had a special feel to it.
It is a feel and look that won’t be seen for quite some time.
Jeter is the final member of the latest Yankees dynasty to check into Monument Park, and nobody has been slighted.
Friday night Brett Gardner predicted we never will see another Jeter, and he could have
been talking about future Monument Park candidates as well.
“The way he was able to play in New York as long as he did and stay out of trouble, it’s not easy to do. It’s not an easy place to play,’’ said Gardner, the longest tenured Yankee. “What he was able to accomplish on the field and the lives he was able to affect, and still is through his foundation and work in the community, I don’t think it is something we will ever see again.’’
Though the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez no longer hate each other, Rodriguez is a long shot to be honored like Jeter and the rest. Had he remained a Yankee, Robinson Cano would have been a Monument Park candidate. Maybe Dellin Betances stays in The Bronx forever and puts himself in the conversation. Don’t insult the fraternity by mention- ing Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge.
Maybe you were at The Stadium on June 8, 1969, when Mickey Mantle’s No. 7 went off the market. Or have the ticket stub from April 8, 1952, when Joe DiMaggio’s No. 5 vanished from the clubhouse hooks. Sept. 22, 2013, was the sun-splashed day Rivera’s No. 42 was put away.
The Yankees have retired 20 numbers. Sunday the number rises to 21 with No. 2 gone.
Nobody celebrates these days like the Yankees, who won’t be playing to a strength for a very long time, if ever again.