On nostalgic evening, Jeter again owns Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was thick with nostalgia, a This Is Your
Life- type journey on the Jumbotron scoreboard that reminded New York Yankees fans why they fell in love with Derek Jeter in 1996 and never stopped. The crowd was on its feet throughout — everyone was woozy from the sensory overload, hearing and seeing The Captain’s finest moments in high-def.
The first base hit, the AL Championship Series-changing home run against the Baltimore Orioles in 1996, the Subway Series homer against the New York Mets in 2000, his 3,000th hit — on and on the images kept rolling, bringing you back to the best days of the Yankees dynasty. The ceremony was perfectly accessorized by congratulatory messages from A-listers such as Joe Namath, Mark Messier, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Adam Jones and Don Mattingly.
As love-ins go, Sunday’s was tough to beat.
It would have been enough to overwhelm even stoic Jeter. He admitted, “I might’ve gotten emotional” had he not been in Monument Park while the rest of the stadium was getting swept away in that time tunnel. It’s probably just as well: The Captain was never one for tears. Even in retirement he would have had a hard time explaining that he’d become a bit of a softy.
Still, it was easy to see how deeply Jeter was affected by the evening’s events and how attached he still is to the Yankees. Waving away questions about his attempt to buy the Miami Marlins with Jeb Bush, Jeter said, “Tonight, this is about the Yankees.”
Minutes earlier on the field, Jeter took the microphone from broadcaster Michael Kay and looked at the tens of thousands who’d come to honor him. It had been almost three years since The Captain stood before a crowd this big, and it generated a nostalgic rush of its own. Until 2014, Jeter had spent his adult life proving how tough and confident he was, what leadership meant and making it possible for the Yankees to run through the American League like it was theirs.
And it was happening all over again Sunday, except those who’d accompanied him during that golden-era run were in suits, not uniforms, grayer and fleshier around the middle. Joe Torre, Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte were there to remind us what the place used to feel like and how fast the years have flown by.
The former Yankees spoke with one voice when asked why Jeter was so special. Any Yankees fan already knew the answers by heart.
“If you ever needed a big hit, especially in the postseason, those were hard at-bats, big at-bats,” Pettitte told reporters. “I never saw anyone who handled that pressure like Derek time after time, again and again.”
“Derek is the greatest Yankee of our generation,” Martinez said before recalling what Jeter’s home run did to the Yankees — and Mets — leading off Game 4 of the 2000 World Series and the Yankees clinging to a 2-1 series lead. The blow put them in the driver’s seat for their fourth World Series title in five years.
“First pitch, first swing,” Martinez said, shaking his head. “We knew we were going to win. We knew that game was over.”
Torre went on to repeat another axiom of Jeter’s enduring talent — being greater than the sum of his parts. Other Yankees were bigger and stronger, many were faster and more athletic, and no one ever said Jeter was the Bombers’ best defender. Yet Jeter’s talents manifested in subtle ways, usually under the radar and invisible to the box score.
It usually dawned on newcomers two to three months after joining the Yankees, when a player would sidle up to Torre and say, as he recalled, “I always realized (Jeter) was a good player, but I never realized he was this good.”
It’s the unquantifiable that made Jeter unique — beloved by the fans but dismissed by those who cling to advanced metrics. To them, Jeter was a creation of New York hype, but those who knew the shortstop best told you Jeter had the ability to make others around him play at a higher level. And there’s no software for that.
It sure turned Jeter into a hero at Yankee Stadium, though, especially Sunday. This was more than a ceremony to retire his No. 2, it was a farewell to an era. This was the final sacrament of The Captain’s legacy, having a plaque that will join other Yankees legends in center field.
Fittingly, the stadium was filled with the sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days in the run-up to the ceremony, and as he was riding in from center field, Jeter was serenaded by Frank Sinatra belting out My Way.
It made everything else about the night feel small and ordinary. The current Yankees watched as bit players. The Houston Astros were in their dugout, too, every one of them on his feet, applauding as Jeter was introduced. Jeter spoke for five minutes, but he could’ve had the floor forever. No one in the park wanted to let go.
So what’s next? Jeter actually laughed when asked about the impending birth of his first child; his wife, Hannah, is due “very soon” he said. But as for fatherhood himself, the former Yankee said, “I’m unprepared.”
The line got a laugh in the news conference, but Jeter’s most powerful message was saved for the moment he said goodbye to the crowd. As usual, Jeter came up big when it counted most.
“Family is forever,” The Captain said. “And I’m eternally grateful that I’ll be part of the Yankee family forever.”