The Captain’s log: What Derek Jeter brought to baseball

Sep 25, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) tips his cap before his last game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Munson/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com via USA TODAY Sports

3. Humility

Have you seen Jeter’s latest twitter rant? Did anyone else witness him jump on camera after the 2009 World Series proclaiming to be the greatest shortstop in the game? No? Well first off he doesn’t have a twitter.  Secondly, he isn’t the best. But he’s close.

The franchise he wears pinstripes for, which happens to be the most and least popular team in the world, is all about being the best of the best and making sure that everyone else knows it.  The team that never lets you forget to associate greatness with them. Unlike what this franchise has come to be, Derek Jeter is what you call a true Yankee, and he carried himself like one.  He played the game. He was never a diva. Never a crazy, over drawn character, outlandish in all his actions and overall hated. He was always humbled to be where he was. Who else shared the personality traits of a true Yankee?

Well there’s Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly… you get the picture. Jeter isn’t Babe Ruth. He’s no DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra or Robinson.  He’s not the greatest of all time, but he could at the very least be welcomed to a seat at the table with these greats.  That alone is an accomplishment in itself.