DEREK JETER WILL BE BACK & BETTER THAN EVER

Aging.  It’s the one thing that is inevitable for all of us.  It’s also the one word that is used most often when describing our New York Yankees, and it is the one thing that our captain Derek Jeter continues to defy.

More than one source in the media has implied that Jeter’s ankle injury, which caused his 2012 season to come to a crashing halt, would linger well into 2013 because of his age (he’s 38).    People that old, they say, take longer to recover.

They don’t know Derek Jeter.

This isn’t the first time people have predicted Derek’s demise. After his 2010, .270 season is started. Then,  in 2011, the Yankees shortstop and face of the franchise was hitting .260 as June came to a close.  The “slump” was well-documented and undertones of Father Time finally getting the best of Jeter were popping up everywhere.  Just when it seemed he was succumbing to the years, July arrived with a re-birth, predicted I might add, but none other than this website, Bleeding Yankee Blue. Read WHY JETER IS THE ULTIMATE NEW YORK YANKEE about that.

On July 9th, 2011 Derek Jeter joined the 3000-hit club with a 5 for 5 performance (including a home run), and from that point on there was no turning back.  He hit .292 that month, .387 in August, and closed out the regular season by hitting .303 in September.  By the end of the year his average stood at .297.

It would appear that Jeet was not yet ready to call it a career, and he still isn’t.

Prior to the injury that occurred in Game One of the ALCS, Jeter was having one of his best seasons.  He finished 2012 hitting .316 with 15 HR and 99 runs scored, and he led the league in hits with 216.  Rather than slowing down in the twilight of his career, it seems that Derek is still hitting his stride.

On December 3rd, Jeter uncharacteristically took to the media to insist that he’ll be ready for Opening Day.  Given his work ethic and history of proving the critics wrong, one cannot argue with what the captain is telling us.

Derek Jeter, the greatest shortstop in the history of the New York Yankees,   is not yet ready to close the final chapter of his hall of fame career.  As he has said, the road back is a long process but if there is anyone that can endure and overcome such an ordeal, it is the Yankee great.

I, for one, fully expect that on April 1st I will see the pinstriped number 2 take his familiar spot at shortstop on our hallowed grounds in the Bronx as we begin the 2013 campaign against our rivals from Boston.

After watching Derek Jeter for 18 seasons, I have no reason to doubt anything he says he can do.


 
--Steve Skinner, BYB Guest Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

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