Derek Jeter overrated.

[zeeblofowl_1969]

Derek Jeter had a Hall of Fame career of this there is no doubt.

But I keep hearing news stories stating he was second to Babe Ruth as an all time Yankee???
This baffles me? Better than Mickey Mantle?? Better than Joe Dimaggio?? Better than Lou Gehrig?? Better the Yogi Berra?? Better than Ron Guidry?? Better than Mariano Rivera??
That he was the best shortstop in the history of baseball??
Honus Wagner?? Cal Ripken?? Ozzie Smith?? Barry Larkin?? Remember SS is a defensive position first and Jeter was barely pedestrian on D.

Just my two cents I am not a Yankee fan so maybe its just Yankee haters bias.

Bring your 2 cents.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

I think he definitely belongs in that company of players. Better than any of them? I don't know, it's really a matter of opinion. For some, you're talking about different eras and others, Jeter is probably equal to them if not better. In about 30 or 40 years, you'll have people proclaiming Jeter to be the greatest shortstop to have ever played the game and a lot of people will probably agree with it.

 

[Jagger69]

Jeter is undoubtedly an all-time great for those who wore the pinstripes. However, Ozzie Smith is the greatest defensive shortstop of all-time (perhaps the greatest defensive player of all time) and Honus Wagner was unquestionably a better hitter so he can't compare there either. One could argue that Ripken was better as well so he has a number of rivals who outperform him using different standards.

What he was (is), is perhaps the steadiest, cleanest and most forthright Yankee player in the modern era. Playing as long as he has in the media cauldron of NY and never a hint of scandal, PEDs or malfeasance of any sort. He has been an exemplary player for the Yanks throughout his career (and I'm no Yankee fan either). Plus, he is a terrific offensive talent and has maintained the highest level of performance for many years. His record is impeccable. A lifetime .312 batting average.....extremely high for a shortstop. He hit over 250 homers as well....at a position not usually noted for power. He's been a model of consistency and integrity throughout his awesome career in NY.

It would be ridiculous to put him in the same category with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle....but he certainly is worth special recognition. He's undoubtedly the greatest Yankee shortstop ever and that's saying a lot. A sure-fire HOFer in my book.

Overrated? I don't know....if one keeps his performance in the context of what it really was, he is a great player but certainly not the greatest ever to don the uniform and I think that's where some people get carried away about him. Let him retire and let history judge him after he has been gone from the game for some time. I think we'll be able to get a more objective opinion once he has been away from the game for a few years.

In about 30 or 40 years, you'll have people proclaiming Jeter to be the greatest shortstop to have ever played the game and a lot of people will probably agree with it.

If they do, they'll be wrong. I'm sure there will be proponents who will make that claim but they will more than likely be Yankee fans first and objective baseball fans second. Smith, Wagner and Ripken all outdo him in many ways as to preclude him from being judged to be the best ever. He's not, plain and simple. Very, very good but just not the greatest ever....no way.

 

[D-rock]

Part of Jeter's problem is that he really should never have been a short stop. Describing his career as "barely pedestrian" at the position might be giving him too much credit, as bad as that is. If I were to give him a letter grade of defense for the position throughout his career it would be around a D. So when his offensive performance is compared to others of his position it isn't really fair to the others who would have been shuffled out to some other place if they were as poor as Jeter was. Really he was a third basemen or left fielder in disguise and should be compared to the best people at those positions offensively. He was left where he was for so long due to the prestige he had at that time, the backlash the fans would have had if he was moved early on, and the fact every so often he would make a highlight reel play that made him look much better than he was, where other better people would have made that play routine and nobody would have thought that much about it.

He definitely isn't better than Mantle, Gehrig, or Dimaggio. The other Yankees you mentioned I might put him ahead of them. He's definitely not better than Wagner, and like I said for the others it's just incredibly unfair to compare them to Jeter when they actually deserved to be at SS. He's getting the benefit of being fresh in people's minds and his retirement has sentimental value now that clouds people's reasoning. If he has to be considered next to the best LF and 3B of history his offensive numbers don't look nearly as good. Jeter also played almost all his career in a very good offensive era for baseball. Even though the guy is a douche why Jeter seems like a pretty nice guy I would also say his career also isn't remotely close to Alex Rodriguez's in performance. Their careers' almost completely overlap each other so historical differences in period don't even need to be considered. When he came to the Yankees it was Jeter that should have been pushed to 3B.

With all that said he's still and obvious hall of famer and a pretty good player despite his faults. Overrated doesn't necessarily mean somebody wasn't great.

 

[bobjustbob]

You've got to look at the body of work. The Yankees put together 16 post season trips in his 19 years (he only played 15 games in his rookie and 17 while injured last season.) 12k PA in 19 years. All post season stats consistent with regular season. 5 of 7 ring tries. Fair to say the teams built around him helped, but he was also there getting on base and scoring those runs. I also don't think his 5 Gold Gloves makes him a pedestrian either. Plus playing clean in the kingdom of roids has to give him some additional credit.

Others played on shitty teams. He can't help that. Others have done more in all stats. But when you look at the years that he played and his reliability, he was an essential part of that ball club. Hard to find a player of our generation that put it all together like Jeter did.

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

You've got to look at the body of work. The Yankees put together 16 post season trips in his 19 years (he only played 15 games in his rookie and 17 while injured last season.) 12k PA in 19 years. All post season stats consistent with regular season. 5 of 7 ring tries. Fair to say the teams built around him helped, but he was also there getting on base and scoring those runs. I also don't think his 5 Gold Gloves makes him a pedestrian either. Plus playing clean in the kingdom of roids has to give him some additional credit.

Others played on shitty teams. He can't help that. Others have done more in all stats. But when you look at the years that he played and his reliability, he was an essential part of that ball club. Hard to find a player of our generation that put it all together like Jeter did.

Will always give him props for remaining clean in the steroid age but gold gloves are many times more a status symbol than a true measure of ones defensive ability.

Enjoying the thoughts keep them coming.

 

[feller469]

Gold Gloves are voted on by ill-informed media members. Look up some of the recent winners at first base and see how worthy they were of the award. One of Jeter's best assets is making the play when it matters most. Sure, he does have the range of others, the arm of others, but when a play has to be made, Jeter was able to do it. As a Red Sox fan, I would take Jeter on my team any day. I wouldn't say that about many players.

 

[D-rock]

I don't think I would give any Yankee individual props for what the team accomplished, and out off all teams, at least in North American sports, the Yankees even more so would be at the top of that list where it shouldn't matter. With the exception of a few European soccer teams no team in the world has such an unfair off the playing field competitive advantage the Yankees have had for a gigantic portion of this history. Maybe in the length of time they have existed no team in the world has had that kind of advantage. They have literally have had many fold times the salary other teams have had. People are totally justified in saying that the Yankees and a small handful of major soccer teams have practically bought their victories. Besides unlike most other sports in baseball it's so easy to almost totally isolate a player's performance from that of their teammates which doesn't really effect them.


And just to bring this up, no Jeter wasn't clutch because. 1. Clutch ability doesn't exist, and it's been proven more so in baseball. 2. Even pretending it's real for the sake of argument Jeter never had it.

 

[STDiva]

But he had that famous cut off out at home!

 

[1sikkpuppy]

I'd divorce my wife if she said Derek Jeter was overrated.

Sure, other players might have beter stats, but his greatness goes beyond numbers. It's like Jagger69 said:

What he was (is), is perhaps the steadiest, cleanest and most forthright Yankee player in the modern era. Playing as long as he has in the media cauldron of NY and never a hint of scandal, PEDs or malfeasance of any sort. He has been an exemplary player for the Yanks throughout his career

A true leader. I will miss seeing him on that field.

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

It's kind of sad when not doing something stupid brings you praise.

 

[1sikkpuppy]

It's kind of sad when not doing something stupid brings you praise.

I agree, but many athletes make "not doing something stupid" look like hard work. Jeter's conduct off the field is a testament to his character.

 

[D-rock]

I'd divorce my wife if she said Derek Jeter was overrated.

Sure, other players might have beter stats, but his greatness goes beyond numbers. It's like Jagger69 said:



A true leader. I will miss seeing him on that field.

I guess it matters what one's definition of "greatness" is on how one would consider him overrated, but unfortunately for him and you most people when they talk about the term just think about it in on field production. I wouldn't mind so much if in the future people didn't confuse the two definitions and try to claim Jeter was better than people he wasn't on the field because he could win a nice guy contest over them.

After all, while having good character is a great trait to have and admirable, it doesn't help win games. Even being a good leader doesn't really do anything to win games in baseball as much as talking heads would like to want otherwise.

 

[adultuser10]

In my opinion yes he has been over-rated and still is. Some numbers from a Bleacher Report link to compare however:

Jeter should further cement his name in Bronx Bombers lore this season, as he needs 13 runs to pass Lou Gehrig (1,888) for second place in Yankees history and 84 runs to pass Babe Ruth (1,959) for first. Jeter needs just 10 doubles to pass Gehrig (534) for the No. 1 spot in that category, and the veteran shortstop also likely has his eyes on some non-Yankees milestones.

Jeter's 3,316 hits are already good for 10th-best in major league history, but a strong season could see him move as high as fifth on the all-time list. He needs four hits to pass Paul Molitor (3,319), 104 to best Carl Yastrzemski (3,419), 105 to top Honus Wagner (3,420) and 120 to surpass Cap Anson (3,435).

If things really go well, Jeter could make a run at fifth-place Tris Speaker, whose 3,514 hits are 198 more than Jeter has for his career.

Courtesy of Bleacher Report

 

[Vanilla Bear]

Of course he's overrated. He's a baseball player. They're all overrated. It's baseball afterall.























































Just kidding, Americans! Don't hate on me. I just don't know shit about baseball. You may move on now.

 

[KayleeRayne]

lol.. I may be a girl, and not know much about the game... but we all know the best player in NY isnt playing in the Bronx <3 #5

 

[Deepcover]

lol.. I may be a girl, and not know much about the game... but we all know the best player in NY isnt playing in the Bronx <3 #5

Are those real?

 

[SirHumper]

Derek Jeter’s farewell tour is arriving in Detroit starting tomorrow night (Tuesday Aug. 26 th). There are some in the local Detroit media here calling Jeter the greatest Yankee of all-time and the greatest shortstop who ever lived. Are you kidding me, Jeter better than the "Babe", Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, not to mention all-time great shortstops such as Honus Wagner and Joe Cronin, I’d even include Arky Vaughan, Pee Wee Reese, Rico Petrocelli and Luis Aparicio in the shortstop mix as well? In my opinion Jeter isn’t even the greatest Yankee shortstop of all-time, that title belongs go to Phil (The Scooter) Rizzuto who covered more ground and was better all around fielder. It is ridiculous to call Jeter the greatest Yankee of all-time!

However, he does deserve special recognition for what he accomplished. Twenty years playing in the Bronx Zoo without a modicum of scandal deserves recognition alone. In the field one could say Jeter was average but not great. Offensively his lifetime numbers stand for themselves for a shortstop, (3439 Hits .310 Batting Average, 259 Home Runs 1293 RBI’s and 357 Stolen Bases). But, when compared with Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell’s lifetime stats (2365 Hits, .285 Batting Average 185 Home Runs, 1003 RBIs and 236 Stolen Bases) can we really say that Jeter was a far, superior shortstop to Trammell, who was at least decent with the glove. It’s important to note the same writers and media types who praise Jeter to the heavens won’t even put Alan Trammel on their Hall-of-Fame ballot. If Trammell had played his 19 years as Yankee he would be in the Hall of Fame by now.

I get tired of hearing all these accolades for the Yankees, Yankees, Yankees. and only the Yankees. Sometimes it just gets downright sickening.

 

[bobjustbob]

I feel your pain. Trammell should have gotten in amongst others but you've got writers that check off Hideo Nomo, JT Snow, and Jacque Jones on their ballots. I love Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams but they don't deserve HOF votes either. Jeter had the advantage of not only playing for the Yankees but also the expanded playoffs. 3 times they got in as a wildcard. Is Phil better than Jeter? Only with the glove. Is he the greatest Yankee of all time? No way. Greatest SS? Another no. Does he deserve HOF first ballot? Absolutely.

This whole Jeter farewell tour is just a marketing tool. Not just a Yankee thing but MLB. Count up the additional tickets sold at each stadium when he comes to town. Add in the shirts and other commemorative shit. Milk it while you can.

 

[SirHumper]

This whole Jeter farewell tour is just a marketing tool. Not just a Yankee thing but MLB. Count up the additional tickets sold at each stadium when he comes to town. Add in the shirts and other commemorative shit. Milk it while you can.

You’re right about the Jeter farewell tour being a marketing tool. Tigers management increased ticket prices just for this current Yankee series alone, after the Yanks leave town ticket prices will roll back to normal.