Editorial

To the end, Jeter was practically perfect

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The 48,613 fans who fretted through Derek Jeter’s final home game on a rainy night last Thursday because they thought he needed a dramatic sendoff, and would certainly provide one if given the opportunity, were only half right.

Throughout the day, showers threatened to wash away the historic farewell at Yankee Stadium. But a little rain wasn’t going to stand in the way of Jeter and his moment. By game time, the skies — like magic — had cleared enough to give Jeter the only opportunity he ever needed to shine: a ballgame. Naturally, in his final at-bat against the Orioles, he came through in the same way he had countless times before. Using his trademark inside-out swing, he slashed a game-winning base hit into right field in the bottom of the ninth.

It was a perfectly fitting conclusion to a practically perfect career, but the truth is Jeter’s legacy was cemented long ago, and his essence as a ballplayer was never really about highlight plays, no matter how many of them he has given baseball fans over the years. After the game, WFAN’s Suzyn Waldman asked him what he would miss most about playing baseball. “Every day,” he answered. And that’s what we will miss most of all about Jeter: his everyday presence.

He was a brilliant player, perhaps not the greatest of all time, as some have claimed, but certainly one of the most important. More remarkable than any individual or team achievement, though, was his permanence. Jeter came to play, and play the right way, every day for 20 years. He has been a joy to watch, and the best possible person to emulate.

When he played his first game, on May 29, 1995, Bill Clinton was in his first term as president, the Internet’s worldwide user base was 1/50 of what it is today, and the Yankees had missed the playoffs for 13 consecutive years. Since then they have been to the playoffs 17 times. Jeter has played 158 postseason games, the equivalent of a full season, and is the only player ever to collect 200 postseason hits. Until last Thursday, he had played in 2,744 regular-season games, and in all but one — the final day of the 2012 season — the Yankees were in contention for the postseason.

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