Derek Jeter And The Art Of Saying Nothing

On Wednesday I learned that John Breen had died.

Many people do not know who Breen was, but for anyone who studied journalism at UConn the man is a legend.

Professor, advisor, mentor and friend, Breen molded generations of journalists, teaching them to go about their profession with grit and dogged curiosity.

Breen's passing naturally had me thinking back to my days at UConn in the early 1990s and all that I learned. One of the first and most basic lessons I learned was that when a journalist covers a meeting or a press conference, the news is not that there was a meeting or press conference. Rather, the news is what is said or done at that event.

Pity the poor journalists who have to cover Derek Jeter.

Jeter is the master of speaking without saying anything of substance.

USA TODAY

Wednesday, a week after announcing on Facebook that 2014 is going to be his final season, the New York Yankees shortstop met the media for the first time.

And said absolutely nothing of substance.

Preparing For Life After Jeter -- Sign Drew Now

Wednesday's announcement has sunk in and Derek Jeter's decision is becoming reality.

We know this will be Jeter's final season. There will be celebrations and a few more memorable moments from the Yankees shortstops.

And if all goes well, there will enough wins to at least be in the playoff hunt.

And once the final out of the season is recorded, one era will end and life without Derek Jeter will begin.

While that is still some seven months away, the planning for the post-Jeter era needs to begin now.

Finding a successor for Jeter will not be easy. Then again, replacing a legendary player never is.

Simply put, there is no one who can do what the Captain has done. If there was, Jeter probably wouldn't be considered an all-time great.

Still Brian Cashman and the Yankees hierarchy are trusted with moving the Yankees forward.

In an ideal world, the Yankees would have a prospect ready to step in a take over, like Mickey Mantle did with Joe DiMaggio.

But the Yankees do not have that ideal scenario. Their minor league system is far from ideal.

Could We Hold Off on the Derek Jeter Tongue-bath For a Moment?

Derek Jeter is the greatest Yankee ever.

Derek Jeter is the greatest shortstop ever.

Derek Jeter is the greatest baseball player of all time.

Lord Almighty, make it stop. Please, make it stop.

Let me say this right now. Jeter is a great player. A definite Hall-of-Fame inductee. Possibly the best-hitting shortstop of all-time.

But he is not - not - the best Yankee ever, the best shortstop ever or the best player of all time. He deserves tons of respect and accolades for his career. But when people begin to attach superlatives over and over and over again that aren't accurate, it stokes a backlash that Jeter really doesn't deserve.

It makes people who don't root for the Yankees want to pull their hair out. It makes us dread the entire 2014 season. Not because of what Jeter can do mind you. No, we dread the incessant sucking-up and over-the-top statements we'll hear all year. Fox Sports will be unbearable. I can't ever imagine how the YES Network will function; Michael Kay will probably just cry for entire broadcasts, the sobbing occasionally punctuated by him incoherently mumbling "THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!!" John Sterling is probably wandering the Bronx right now, bursting into places and screaming "El Capitaine!" at anyone who will listen.

This may, or may not, be John Sterling yelling at people.

Thank God I have whisky in the cabinet.

Anyway, let's address those three statements at the top of the piece. All stats from the excellent and awesome website baseball-reference.com.

Derek Jeter is the greatest Yankee ever

WAR

1. Babe Ruth: 142.7
2. Lou Gehrig: 112.5
3. Mickey Mantle: 109.7
4. Joe DiMaggio: 78.3
5. Derek Jeter: 71.6

Adjusted Batting Wins

1. Babe Ruth: 116.2
2. Lou Gehrig: 89.9
3. Mickey Mantle: 85.2
4. Joe DiMaggio: 49.4
5. Charlie Keller: 28.8
6. Bernie Williams: 28.5
7. Alex Rodriguez: 27.8
8. Derek Jeter: 26.1

Numbers don't lie, people. If you are talking about the greatest Yankees, you start with Ruth. After him comes the triumvirate of Gehrig, Mantle and DiMaggio. You can mix and match those guys although I personally think that Gehrig is pretty much ensconced at the second spot.

At that point Jeter comes into play. Being the fifth best Yankee of all-time is pretty damned amazing, considering the players that have been there. There is no need to inflate him and push him higher. It just looks ridiculous.

Although...I'd even place him sixth. Someone retired last year by the name of Mariano Rivera. First all-time on the Yankees in WAR for pitchers (56.6), second in career ERA (2.21) and Adjusted Pitching Wins (32.5), and the best career WHIP of any pitcher to wear a Yankees uniform (1.00). Oh, and 652 career saves, the best ever. It's kind of hard to leave Rivera out of the top five Yankees of all-time.

A Final Voyage For Captain Jeter

As I sat down to dinner with my son Jack Wednesday night, I asked him what he thought about Derek Jeter's announcement that 2014 would be his final season.

"I feel sad," he said.

Leave it to a 7-year-old boy to simply state what not only every New York Yankee fan feels, but what nearly all baseball fans are feeling.

Jeter has finally hit that moment, to paraphrase the scene from "Moneyball," when he's being told he can't play anymore.

MLB Network Stirring It Up

MLB Network is trying to determine the face of baseball and Round 2 hits at the greatest rivalry in sports.

That right, it's Sox vs. Stipes.

David Ortiz vs. Derek Jeter, but really, is this one even a contest?

Did you vote yet? Get in on the @RedSox-@Yankees rivalry by tweeting #DavidOrtiz or #DerekJeter to vote! #FaceofMLB pic.twitter.com/bw9Xvtjggo

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 11, 2014

This one should be interesting, but c'mon, Jeter will take this.

A Perfect (Almost) Opener

This was a day we've been waiting for since early November, when the Yankees captured World Championship No. 27.

When it comes to celebrating accomplishments and history, there is no team in sports that come close to matching the Yankees. The pomp, the circumstance, the celebration of the past, no one can compare --no matter how hard the Red Sox try.

The Birth Of Mr. November

It was eight years ago tonight. Mr. November was born.

The Yankees entered the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks trailing 3-1 at the old Yankee Stadium and down 2-1 in the series, when Ghosts spun their magic and Tino Martinez stroked a two-run homer off Byung-Hyun Kim, who was in his second inning of work.

The game stretched on from Halloween past midnight as the World Series stretch into November for the first time because of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Then, with Kim still on the mound and two outs in the 10th, the score still tied at 3, a legend was created as Derek Jeter added to his amazing postseason resume, launching a Jeterian shot into the stands in right to give the Yankees the dramatic, mind-blowing 4-3 walkoff victory.


The moniker "Mr. November" was quickly affixed to Jeter.

The next night in Game 5, the Ghosts struck again as the Yankees trailed 2-0 entering the ninth before Scott Brosius hit a stunning two-out, two-strike homer of Kim to right to tie it before Alfonso Soriano won it in the 12th with a single for a second-consecutive amazing, mind-blowing walkoff victory.

Of course the Yankees went on to lose that series in 7 on Luis Gonzalez's flair over short off Mariano Rivera

The World Series hasn't been back in November, until this year.

If we were to get as much drama as we did in 2001, that would be great.

What is more important is that the outcome of this Series turns out better, with the Yankees beating the Phillies for World Series championship No. 27.