Is This Guy Honorable or Stupid?

Derek Jeter reached Yankee immortality as only he could Saturday afternoon (or he's just lucky to have been able to stick around for this long, depending on who you ask)and being that it was a dramatic home run to the left field bleachers, this meant that some lucky soul was faced with the enviable task of choosing between keeping the ball and testing the collector's market or giving it back to Jeter for whatever he asked. As everyone knows, he chose the latter, sparking debate amongst Yankee and non Yankee fans over whether this dude is an honorable soul who personifies the class that Jeter has been known to represent through out his career, or just a plain old idiot?

There seems to be two camps here (judging by my own informal polling of friends and facebook statuses, and media reaction): the one faction says this guy, Christian Lopez, is a virtuous and saintly person, who has put his love for Jeter and the Yankee organization above greed. Numerous articles have been written the past 2 days shouting out the class that Lopez has shown as being the perfect representation of Jeter and Yankee like nobility and an antidote to the greed that has ruined our society. And then there's the other group who thinks this guy is just stupid for not saving that ball for the highest bidder. I'm a part of the second group. Don't get me wrong, I think the ball belonged with Jeter and I like the fact that this kid is such a huge Yankee fan that he didn't even consider another option (to hear the Yankees tell it, at least), but let's be honest with ourselves here: this isn't some kind of a charity organization we're talking about. It's the New York Yankees. The richest franchise in sports and basically the logo for capitalism. The trading of seats that they couldn't sell because they're so ridiculously priced to begin with isn't a fair value for that baseball. Unless they worked out some kind of deal behind closed doors where Lopez could sell off the seats he can't use, this is more of a punishment than anything else. Hank Steinbrenner looks down from his suite and sees some other schmucks sitting where the patron saint of baseball memorabilia should be and there will be a problem.

I'm not really knocking this guy (even if I am basically calling him an idiot) since I think he really doesn't know any better. But, if he knew what was best for him he'd sell that ball to Todd McFarlane or the Hall of Fame or Jeter himself after some negotiating. He's a Verizon employee who is admittedly 100k in debt in college loans. I imagine he wasn't an economics major, since sitting and watching the Yankees play the White Sox in August isn't going to pay those loans back. The idea of not getting your money's worth for a collectible isn't really a noble cause when you take into account that the entity who you're basically donating it to takes every opportunity they can get to milk some cash out of their loyal fans. The second that ball hit Lopez's eager mitts, the Yankees website and Modell's, etc. began shilling whatever they could with a 3000 and Jeter's name on it. If they could package the air that was breathed in the stadium that day, you better believe Steiner collectibles would have "Jeter 3k Carbon Dioxide" sales in a few years. Maybe there were some deals made behind the scenes in which Lopez is now the richest fan in the building, and all his debts have been paid. Maybe the seats are a front to hide the type of absurd dollars that changed hands. I doubt it though. No one's making money off Jeter's 3000th but the Yankees themselves. That's the Yankee way. Most likely, Christian Lopez is still a 23 year old Verizon employee in massive debt, albeit much more famous than he was 3 days ago, and with evening plans for 3 days a week for the rest of the summer. It might be an honorable, classy act like some would have you believe, but it is definitely stupid.

How great is Jeter?

You're going to hear a lot of Jeter ass-kissing over the next couple days now that hes reached 3000 hits - and rightfully so - but this now begs the question: how truly great of a player is Derek Jeter? I'll try to answer this objectively although (1) I'm a Yankee fan, (2) Jeter is my favorite player, and (3) PTU is a blog run by some assholes from New York.

So where does he fall among the all-time greats? He is the best of the 2nd tier all-time greats.

Examples:

Considering the great players of the last 20 - 30 years (I'm not going back to like 1911 and mentioning all these guys that even your great-grandfather is too young to remember), the first tier would include guys like: Bonds, Pujols, A-Rod, Griffey, Frank Thomas, Manny, etc. The main thing that separates these guys from guys like Jeter is their ability to hit for power. When Jeter retires, each of these guys will have 300+ more home runs than Jeter, and also a shitload more RBI's. Of course, it's important to note that many of these guys have been linked to roids.

The second tier, where Jeter falls, would consists of guys like Derek, Gwynn, Boggs, George Brett, and Paul Molitor. Guys with 3000+ hits, tons of runs, a high average, great clutch play... aka everything except tremendous power numbers. I would put Jeter a nod above the other guys in this category, including a player like George Brett, who is probably the most comparable statistically. Jeter's offensive stats, his Gold Gloves, his clutch play, and his championships (5) make him probably the best tier 2 player of all-time.

Tier 3 would include some really, really good players, though not quite all-time great. As an example, Craig Biggio would arguably fall into this category.

Among the 28 players to reach 3000 hits, Jeter is one of the least talented - though that's not much of a criticism, considering how great the rest of the players are. In that group, he's somewhere in the bottom 25%.

Projecting the rest of his career, Jeter will probably retire with roughly the following numbers:

.305 average
3340 hits
2000 runs
250 homers
1275 RBI's
5 Gold Gloves
5 Championships

No doubt first ballot Hall of Famer.

Congratulations, Jeter

Congratulations to the captain on joining the 3,000 club, and in as dramatic fashion as any sappy Hollywood screenwriter or Mike Lupica could imagine. The only thing that could have been more Hollywood like would be if it were a game winning home run and he winked at Babe Ruth as he rounded third base (I know that's impossible but Jeter hitting a home run is almost that crazy these days). Jeter becomes only the second player in Major League Baseball history to reach 3k on a home run, the other being former Yankee and chicken enthusiast Wade Boggs, who did so with Tampa. The fact that it was a home run also means that there is one lucky fat guy out in left field who caught the ball and will I'm sure be receiving a king's ransom in memorabilia or cash from the Yankees in exchange for the magic ball. Now that this plateau (or stateau as some bloggers have dubbed these type of records) has been reached, the Yankees can get back to focusing on winning games and staying ahead of the Red Sox and these Rays in the standings. For now, though, let's take a second to enjoy the moment and show some appreciation for one of the greatest Yankees to ever suit up in pinstripes, and the man who stands alone as the only Yankee to have 3,000 base hits. Then we can all get back to hating or defending him.

Congrats, number 2.

The Gillette Curse

The sports world is rife with superstitions. From Wade Boggs daily ritual of eating chicken prior to every game to every non sensical fan who thinks they have a lucky ______ (insert item here) that they think has an effect on the game. There are also some well publicized curses. The Curse of the Bambino, the Madden Cover curse (watch those knees Peyton Hillis) and the Sports Illustrated Cover curse. Well, now I'm going to add another curse to the long list.

If you want to remain a successful athlete, do not endorse Gillette razors. Let's take a look at what has happened to each of these three athletes since endorsing Gillette.

Federer: Lost his number 1 ranking to his long time rival, Nadal. He has won only one major in the last 18 months and has fallen to number 3 in world rankings. Most recently lost to a scrub named Jo Wilfred Tsonga after having a 2 sets to none lead in Wimbledon. Also lost to Nadal once again in the French final.

Woods: Got divorced and had to recover from a major knee injury. He hasn't won a major in 3 years and is currently injured again forcing him to miss the US Open and likely the British Open as well. Also, he got outed as a sexual deviant (if you ask the ladies) or if you ask the guys, just a normal dude.

Jeter: Had the worst season of his career in 2010 and has followed up that performance with an even worse half season thus far. He is currently on the disabled list for the first time since 2003 and is struggling to get back.

Inside The Pinstripe Curtain: A Mets Fan Goes To The Yankees Legends Suite

As you may know from my previous posts about how I'm fed up with the Mets futility, for some unknown reason I'm life long Mets fan. To be honest, I have almost zero interest in the Mets 2011 season except for my hope that the ownership will change. When the opportunity came up to go to this weekends Yanks-Redsox game in seats 9 rows behind home plate, I couldn't pass it up despite my allegiance to that other NY team. I even decided I would do something I've never done before and root for the Yankees, since it seemed like a waste to sit in good seats and root for Boston. As it turns out, maybe a Mets fan rooting for the Yankees wasn't so good for them, since they played so poorly that I felt like I was at a Mets game (as of this writing, the Yanks are down by 2 runs and are a few outs away from a sweep).

In any case, I always wondered what the hell you get for paying $275 per seat face value for these types of tickets, especially since I usually buy 5 dollar tickets on Stub Hub for Mets games and stand up the whole time by Beer Island. I tried to get as many pictures as I could without looking like a poor homeless person that snuck into the rich people section, check them out after the jump. Pretty much everything in these seats is "free", except for your alcohol.

Derek Jeter - Stop the Hate

Derek Jeter has spent his entire career being hated on and almost always being held up to impossible standards. When entering his prime, people loved to remind him that he wasn't as good a hitter as A-Rod or Tejada. He's never been implicated with anything involving steroids...the guys he was being compared to have. He wasn't as good a fielder as Omar Visquel. Yeap, he wasn't as good, defensively, as the best defensive short stop of the 90's, and arguably one of the top 10 greatest defensive short stops to ever play the game.

Now, at age 37, Derek Jeter is contending with a new impossible standard. Derek Jeter 2011 is being compared to young Derek Jeter. The Derek Jeter who wasn't good enough then but still managed to amount Hall of Fame numbers, improve his defense, and win a ton of titles in the process. Aside from Barry Bonds, not many ball players put up numbers better than the numbers they put up in seasons played in their mid 20s. Its an unfair comparison, but the Yankees Captain is asked to do exactly that. Like other points in his career, he doesn't get mad about it. He doesn't cry about it in the press. He goes to work, and then he produces.

While Mr. D continues to send other writers at PTU slanderous emails about the production (or lack thereof) of Yankees captain Derek Jeter, the man put together an impressive game yesterday going 4-6 with 2 homers. He saw his batting average jump to a respectable .276 for a short stop and placing him 11th in short stop batting average. The Captain is also currently top 10 amongst all short stops in hits, runs and even home runs (although that isn’t saying much given that aside from guys like Tulowitski, Gonzalez, or Hanley Ramirez, there aren’t many power hitters at the position).

I will concede that yesterday’s game will probably be the best performance at the plate we see Jeter put up this year and not something that will be the norm. However, I think it’s fair to say he isn’t as bad as his first few weeks indicated either. You can expect his year to finish with about 175 hits, 65 RBI, over 100 runs scored, and somewhere around a 275 BA…all very respectable numbers for a shortstop at the top of your lineup. He'll probably be top 10 in all meaningful stats. The Yanks may contend for another title. Then when next year comes, he gets to try and prove his value again.

The Father, The Son, and the Holy Jeter

Happy Good Friday. Jesus, we're cool with you and I know this is your big weekend and all, but some other holy man is also being persecuted: my man Derek Jeter.

The Judas' out there are hating on my man Jete, saying he's too old, his days are numbered, that he should just retire and leave the Yankees alone. While he can no longer perform like he used to it, we should have respect for this man for what he has accomplished.

Besides all the professional accolades - the championship rings, the hits, the Gold Gloves - he has also made love to every woman I dream about in the midnight hour. And now, with Minka as his Mary Magdalene, there is nothing he can't accomplish.

Jesus and Jeter have many things in common, besides both being great at baseball. Like JC, Jeter will rise again on the third day. Come this weekend, Jesus will be resurrected. All the haters will shield their eyes from the glory that will be emanating from his holy bat.

Expect a .300+ average for the rest of the season. Jeter's back.

Derek Jeter, please retire.

Ok, I know that is never going to happen. He has this year and two more years left on his current contract. But he is really killing the team. Jeter's chase for 3,000 hits is a great story but overshadows how badly his play has slipped recently.

After an 0-5 tonight, he is batting a sparkling .219. It's early, you say? While I have not seen all of his at bats, I have seen enough games this year to know this might be more than "just a slump". Seemingly every ball he hits is a grounder to shortstop or second base. All of his hits are of the infield variety or seeing eye grounders. I think I've seen him hit one line drive and it was caught by the right fielder. If Jeter's poor batting continues, Girardi will have no choice but to drop him in the lineup. I say he should have been dropped to 9th in the order already. Torre dropped A-rod in the playoffs to 8th in the order years back and that was for a much smaller sample of at-bats than Jeter is afforded. If Jeter was really a team player, he would not bitch about it but you know he will, because Jeter is a diva just like the women he dates (see Carey, Mariah).