Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:45 pm
OK, cards on the table. I'm a lifelong Yankee fan. I've been around long enough to have seen Yogi Berra catch, Whitey Ford pitch, and Mantle and Maris hit homers in the same game at the Stadium in their pursuit of Ruth's record in 1961. I also endured the bad years between 1965 & 1975, when the Yanks were not merely a bad team, but downright boring team. All through this time, I've stayed a Yankee fan, and I've enjoyed watching Jeter play while sometimes getting a little tired of the adulation that has so often been heaped on him.
The issue with Jeter is that he's an extremely good player without being, really, one of the greatest of all time. He does have a hard-to-define aura, which his part of his charm and also a source of the annoyance he seems to generate. When Jeter i's treated as an all time great by an adoring press, that can be a bit wearing. But that doesn't dim his excellence as a player.
Clearly he's not the greatest player of all time--a straw man that Olbermann goes out of his way to demolish, but why? Jeter's not even close to being the greatest Yankee of all time. And he's not the greatest shortstop of all time. But he is, I think more or less beyond question, the greatest Yankee shortstop of all time—and that's not a bad thing to be, given the Yankees long history. Rizzuto would be a distant second.
Now, where should one rank Jeter, overall, in Yankee history. I think the real elite would be Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Dimaggio, Berra, and Mo Rivera. Jeter really isn't in that class.
I the guys he seems to sort of rank with in overall quality would be pitchers--Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing. The sheer length of his career as a Yankee seems to put him ahead of most other competitors from his only team. The Scooter had a better glove, but Derek was a far, far better hitter, and he had a much longer career. I would put him a bit ahead of Bill Dickey and ahead of Reggie and Rickey if we judge them solely on their Yankee careers. Judging players solely on their careers as Yankees, I think we have to see Jeter as a top-10 all time Yankee, but somewhere down in the bottom half of the top 10.
Among the all-time SS, he surely belongs, in my mind, behind Wagner and Ripken. After that it gets a bit murky--Jeter was a better hitter than many of his competitors, and he had a really long career, but his fielding was not equal to some of the other SS greats. Also, Jeter was a pure SS for his entire career, while some competitors, such as Yount and Ernie Banks, moved to other positions later in their careers. It's debatable how to account for that. All in all, I'd probably put Jeter in the top ten SS of all time, but again, somewhere in the 2nd half of the top ten.
Anyone have other thoughts about where he ranks as either a Yankee or a SS?
