As luck would have it, the day that Derek Jeter closed the deal on 3,000 hits was a Saturday, and part of my ticket plan. It was a great day in Yankee history, and he did it with such style.
Following the rain out on Friday night, and the fact that he needed to confront David Price on the mound, made me very wary, and afraid of a major letdown. But Jeter would have none of it.
Both of his first two at-bats were real battles, each full counts with multiple foul balls. When he led off the 1st for the Yankees, and hit that ball between third and short, about 100,000 arms were raised in unison at Yankee Stadium, and the crowd let out a collective "yeah!", with the knowledge that wait for 2,999 had already ended. Each at-bat would now bring a chance for the milestone.
The crowd was silent as silent as 50,000 can be during the 2nd at-bat in the 3rd inning, but started a "De-rek Je-ter!" chant as he hung in at 3 and 2. At that moment, he reached down and golfed the next pitch deep into the LF bleachers, a longer HR than I can ever recall him hitting. And then he smiled!
His Yankee teammates, led by Jorge Posada, embraced him. The Rays acted with great class, and the crowd took it in for what I considered a very tasteful amount of time.
When he doubled in his next at-bat, about 5 people around me and I now acknowledged the "cycle watch", but that would not happen. However, two singles and a game-winning RBI later, we had a script for a movie that nobody would believe. That's why he's Derek Jeter, and we're not.
And most importantly, the Bombers maintained their undefeated record on YES' Yankees Classics.
A note to my Met fan friends out there: The Red Sox are not prefacing their congratulations and statements with "buts". Stop it. That means you, Steve Sommers. It's very unbecoming and classless.
Derek Jeter acknowledges the
Yankee Stadium crowd after his 3,000th hit
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