About two weeks ago I decided to wait until the season was over before I shared my take on Derek Jeter and how he’s become deified despite the fact that, statistically speaking he has some short comings which leave him far from deserving God-like status. Further, while he is often portrayed as being selfless and an ideal team captain, that’s not exactly the case. Perhaps he isn’t unduly selfish, but he is a big star (one with some degree of ego), and those kinds of ballplayers expect special treatment.
Now, I’ve never been crazy about Keith Olbermann’s style, but in his recent tirade about Jeter, I agreed with almost all of his contentions. Most were, in fact, items I was going to bring up. Because he made his report before mine, I’ll limit my statistical study a bit. However, if you’re curious, go to the record books— consider Jeter’s strikeout totals (14th most ever), his defensive woes, then stack him up against players who have led their league in major categories multiple times.
I disagree with Olbermann in that I felt he seemed to downplay Jeter’s stats which are built upon longevity. True, when Olbermann compared Jeter to the other 18 players with 12,000+ plate appearances (my source only has 18 men in all with that many PA), Jeter ranked between 12th and 14th in slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, doubles, triples, homers, and ribbies.
However, the game’s most venerable records were built over years and years of consistency. Hank Aaron, still the legitimate career record holder for homers in my view, never hit more than 47 home runs in a season. However, virtually every single year he could be counted on for around 40 home runs and 110 or so RBI, and that’s back when 30+ blasts and 100 or more ribbies meant something.
So, give Jeter credit for his longevity and what he has accomplished over time, such as his 540+ doubles, his 1,900+ runs, and his 4,900+ total bases.
On the other hand, Jeter supplicants should be able to grudgingly admit he was never dominant the way a Stan Musial was. Consider the fact that there were only three times Jeter led his league in any significant realm— for runs scored once and for most hits twice. In 1948 alone, Musial led his league in more than 10 major categories. Ponder the fact that Jeter hasn’t even once been named his league’s Most Valuable Player.
His WAR (wins above replacement) of 71.7 ranks him #88 all-time. That’s an honest measure of the man, proving he does deserve a great deal of praise—after all, only five other big leaguers ever amassed more lifetime hits—but he is not the most elite player ever.
It’s a shame that misguided fans and even members of the media hype his ability because while it’s seemingly unfathomable to call a man with 3,400 hits and a lifetime batting average of .310 overrated, Jeter is, in fact, overrated by thousands of people who let their devotion and emotion obfuscate the truth. Some have even called Jeter the greatest Yankee of all which is, of course, absurd.
As for the label of selflessness, that, too, is overblown. His blindly loyal fans should be able to admit he is human. A literature professor of mine once pointed out that fictional characters should never be described as being all good or all bad, just like real people. Too many Jeter fans paint him as perfect, but, again, some of his actions have fallen short of being noble.
I suspect if Alex Rodriguez, who is obviously nowhere nearly as popular as Jeter, had done some of the following things, he would have been soundly criticized. Meanwhile Jeter, for most of his career, seems to have been issued a free pass. Considering his status, perhaps some of the treatment he has received is justifiable, but not totally.
Consider these points from Jeter’s career:
** For an eon, from 1951-2007, Bob Sheppard introduced each Yankee as he strolled to the plate in Yankee Stadium. He died in 2010, but before he fell ill, Jeter had Sheppard record his introduction and Jeter had it played each time he batted for the rest of his home games. No other player asked for or was given that privilege.
While that’s a pretty minor point, it was a move which separated him from teammates just a bit. Certainly it didn’t alienate teammates the way Barry Bonds did with his insistence on having a plush easy chair situated away from his fellow Giants in their locker room, but, while Jeter has truly earned many perks, some say he should have humbly kept himself on the same level with fellow teammates.
** Likewise, when the Yankees announced that its players would wear a #2 patch on their caps and jersey sleeves, it was suggested by some members of the media that Jeter should have told the team not to do this nice gesture because: a) in the past such displays were almost always reserved to honor baseball people who were dead, and b) it was an ostentatious display. Both reasons, critics pointed out, were sufficient cause for a modest person to veto the tribute.
** As a captain and leader who wants what’s best for his team, ideally (but, it seems, not realistically) Jeter should have volunteered to move from shortstop to another spot when the team acquired Rodriguez. Jeter simply had to know A-Rod was a much better shortstop.
Every defensive metric known to man testifies to Jeter’s glaring defensive deficiencies, and some studies say he’s not just a sub-standard shortstop, he’s the worst ever. His defensive WAR, a negative 9.4, ranks him as having the worst defensive WAR among men from the entire modern era who were mainly shortstops.
Giving up his position was something you knew the Yankees would not, could not, ask of Jeter, and it was also something the proud Jeter would not, did not, offer to do. Michael Young (and others such as Craig Biggio) agreed to a change of position more than once, usually without a grumble, but it wasn’t about to happen with the Yankees.
** As a player who should ideally put his club ahead of himself and ahead of his pride/ego, Jeter, say most experts, should have either retired prior to this year, asked to sit out more often once it was apparent his offensive skills had eroded with age, or, at the least, asked to be moved down in the batting order at some point.
Given the adulation he’s received, it’s almost perfectly natural that his ego has increased since his schoolboy days of innocence back in Michigan, so that probably explains why he shunned the above altruistic moves. Furthermore, his ego certainly doesn’t rival that of, say, Reggie Jackson. Perhaps critics should cut Jeter a bit of slack on the ego front due to his status as a star in the nation’s media/hype capitol, but don’t call him selfless or totally humble.
Further, in his defense, in lingering on in the game too long, Jeter simply fell into the common mortal mistake made by so many before him— greats such as Willie Mays and Warren Spahn are just a few who come to mind.
Recently a former Yankee teammate of Jeter’s, Nick Swisher said, “The man is an absolute god.” He also stated, “Baseball is gong to miss a man like that.” Swisher batted .500 in his comments.
Yes, admire what this man Jeter has done, but don’t inflate his accomplishments, simply give him his due while, at the same time, also realistically looking at his flaws. Baseball does need its heroes, but not gods.