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Health & Fitness

Derek Jeter old-timer?

 

Yesterday, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the Yankees celebrated their 68th Old-Timers Day. There were so many legends in The House That Ruth Built, Yogi Berra, David Wells, Paul O'Neill, Whitey Ford, and many others. What may have gone unnoticed was this was Derek Jeter's last Old-Timers Day as a Yankee.  Next year, Jeter will either be on the Clippers, or the Bombers, the two teams that play in the Old Timers game.  Jeter has been the face of the Yankees’ franchise for 19 years. Whether it was the way he carried himself off the field, or the way the captain led the Yankees onto the field, Jeter has been a classy asset to the Yankee’ organization. As weird as it may be, starting next year, we now have to add old-timer to the litany of names that we know Jeter by. One lasting moment that I will always remember about Jeter is, in July 2010, when the Yankees lost two key members of their family, legendary Public Address Announcer, Bob Sheppard, and owner George Steinbrenner within two days of one another; Jeter, as a typical captain would do, spoke in front of a sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd before the first game of the next homestand, he said to the crowd “How can we honor them enough? I think the way to do it, for us, is to go out and win another championship”.

There are many qualities a captain must exhibit to an organization before being named, strength, will, determination, leadership, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to win. There was probably no one who was closer to these two key members of the Yankee organization. The fact that Jeter was able to speak so eloquently about these two individuals reiterates why he was named captain in 2003. As a baseball fan, and more importantly a human being, I admire Jeter because of these qualities.

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I can't wait until next year's Old-Timers Day, when Jeter can finally interact with his fellow old-timers and fully enjoy the meaning of Old-Timers Day. People say, you don't really fully appreciate something until you live it, next year Jeter will be able to do that. I am sure Jeter will have the same fun-loving attitude toward the Old-Timers Game, as he did for the game of baseball for 19 years.
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