The New York Yankees are one of the most decorated and historic franchises in sports.
Names like Mickey Mantel, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra and the Babe are just a handful of the historic names to don pinstripes.
“Winning Championships” is the Yankees motto. Baseball is a team sport, which makes individual accomplishments merely an added bonus. Awards for anything other than a World Series will not absolve a season’s failure.
The Yankees have housed 22 MVPs, five CY Young winners, eight Rookies of the Year, 12 World Series MVPs, eight ALCS MVPs and two Triple Crown Winners (Home Runs, RBI, Batting Average).
The franchise itself has won 27 World Series Championships and has been witness to every kind of individual player accomplishment except one.
That one is a hitter’s most elite club. Membership is only given to a player who reaches 3000 hits over his career.
There are a mere 26 members in this section of the Hall Of Fame, but not one of them has worn New York pinstripes.
Well, the chance for a Yankee to be represented on this list has come again, and this time the player could not be more fitting: It’s Derek Jeter.
Jeter is a homegrown Yankee who has been the Captain of the pinstripes since 2003.
In 1996, his first year in the pros, Jeter won the Rookie of the Year Award.
In 2000 Jeter was both the World Series MVP and the All-Star Game MVP.
Jeter has played in 11 All-Star Games, won five Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, two Hank Aaron awards, a Roberto Clemente award—and that is just the top of the list of awards.
Decorated to say the least, Jeter also has five World Series rings as a Yankee, which is well beyond any expectations.
So, how perfect if the name Derek Jeter were to be the first New York Yankee to grace the 3000 hit list?
Well, what seemed like destiny for Jeter, who has just 74 hits till 3000, is no longer.
Jeter is no longer tied contractually to the pinstripes, a slight predicament which no one imagined would ever be the thing standing in his way.
If the Yankees and Jeter could find a happy medium, then a New York player could be represented on yet another exclusive list.
It would make the Yankee fans ecstatic if it were our Captain Derek Jeter.
Vince Lombardi once said, “It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it.”
The Yankees should give this chance to Derek Jeter, who has done so much for the team. He deserves to have all his triumphs cemented in his pinstripes.
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