Tag Archives: Derek Jeter

Is Derek Jeter Washed up?

Jeter’s Split-Second Timing

I’ve been on vacation this past week and have been frothing at the bit to get back  to baseball!  I’ve been hearing bits and pieces about Felix Hernandez’ perfect game and Melky Cabreras’s not so perfect choices and wanting to get back into the nitty-gritty.  But today I landed on Craig Calcaterra’s article about Skip Bayless article about Derek Jeter…..fun stuff!

Here’s the article from Calcaterra.  Be sure and click on the link to  Bayless’ video.  If nothing else, it’s certainly entertaining!   We’ll save Felix and Melky for another day when I get back home to my own turf and can put some thought into the process.  Hope you’re all having a great summer!

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Baseball’s Top Ten News Items in 2011

2011 World Champions St Louis Cardinals

The media’s full of articles and videos of the most newsworthy items about baseball this past year.   You might think this would be those articles you and I found the most interesting and representative of baseball throughout the country, but not necessarily so.

I compiled a list from a survey today of the “top 10” from USA Today, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN.

Here’s the results and below that I’ve listed my own personal “Top Ten”.  How does your list compare?

TOP TEN FROM SURVEY

  1. St. Louis Cardinals, World Series Champions
  2. Justin Verlander,  AL Cy Young and MVP Winner
  3. Game 162 collapse of the Red Sox and Braves.
  4. Game 6 World Series between the Cardinals and Rangers
  5. Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit
  6. Ryan Braun’s Drug Test
  7. Jim Thome’s 600th Home Run
  8. Shannon Stone Fatal Fall at Rangers Stadium
  9. Mariano Rivera all time saves leader
  10. Bryan Stow beating at Dodger Stadium Continue reading

Baseball Memorabilia …..Is it Really? How Can You Tell?

Right off let me tell you I’m a collector.  I collect anything baseball mostly for my personal enjoyment and for posterity and  I’ve never sold anything from my  collection.

I subscribe to periodicals that give me a rough idea of what the value of a particular card or item might be, but the only way you can really determine FMV is to sell it which I have no intention of doing.  Occasionally, when I feel I have a special card I’ll send it to Beckett to have it graded, only to find it’s not as special as I thought it was.

One such card was actually a Hockey card ~ a  1979 O-Pee-Chee #18Wayne Gretzky card that had recently sold for over $60,000 on Ebay.   I planned on selling this item and I’d already mentally taken a world cruise with the proceeds from this special Gretzky prize, the best card in my collection of over 75,000 cards.  Imagine my surprise when Beckett returned the card to me not only ungraded but with a notation of “Questionable Authenticity”.  In other words, it was a fake!

I’d paid good money for the card which was purchased from another collector I knew personally.  My first inclination was to contact the guy and ask for my money back.  In reality, I’m sure he bought it with the same expectations I had, totally unaware.   I had no idea what I was buying, no experience and no knowledge in the area of collectibles, and neither did he.  Continue reading

All Star Game ….. Tongue-in-Cheek Moments!

The National League won the annual All Star Game tonight  for the second year in a row  by a  score of 5-1, giving home field advantage in the 2011 World Series to  the National League.  Here’s a few of my favorite moments ~

Adrian Gonzalez from the American League All Stars hit a home run off Cliff Lee to start the scoring that presented a sort of deja vu in my mind like “oh boy, here we go again!”  Last year was the first time the National League had won in over 13 years finally beating the American League winning streak and I thought for sure the American League was on their way to starting a new streak. 

But Prince Fielder blasted a three run homer  that contributed to the final score and gave the National League their second All Star victory in a row.  

One of the more hilarious moments in the game came when Heath Bell was called in from the bullpen and instead of jogging onto the field as a relief pitcher usually does, he decided to “run fast, really fast” to the pitcher’s mound arriving with a slide at the mound and ending up at the feet of Manager Bruce Bochy.  Pablo Sandoval who was also standing on the mound at the time couldn’t contain his laughter like others around him, but not a smidgeon of a smile could be seen on Bochy’s face, at least not from my point of view from the couch.  

Too funny was the replay of the momentous jog to the mound showing the TV camera man running behind Bell as fast as he could trying to keep up, but eventually gave it up as Bell out sprinted him by ….. a lot!   Brian Wilson, the illustrious SF Giants closer made an appearance, beard and all, and, of course, closed out the game.

Did I mention how much I missed Derek Jeter?  Derek you’ve probably heard was too tired, exhausted was the word he used, to play in the game.   Last I heard he was seen having a good time dining at a Miami restaurant today with his girlfriend, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But since Jeter was “selected” as an All Star, he’ll be receiving a $500,000 bonus as part of his contract.  I just think it would have been a nice gesture if  he would have at least attended the game for his fans who, after all, are the ones paying the tab.  But that’s just my opinion.   And I’m sure he  really was exhausted after the fantastic week he’d had with that 3000th hit and 5 for 5 game.  Okay, well maybe next year.  Baseball fans have an incredible tolerance for their perceived heroes and I’m sure they’ll be there waiting for him  again unless he decides to grace them with his appearance.   Nice job if you can get it.

All in all I felt it was one of the better All Star games.   Probably because in spite of the 16 original contestants who were selected and couldn’t or wouldn’t be  there, the ones who wanted to be there, were there.

Derek Jeter – Emmy Award for Best Actor?……Absolutely!

Derek Jeter

Image via Wikipedia

Take a look at this video.  Be patient.  It takes a minute to load.  I had a devil of a time finding a copy that was not locked out with a “security violation”, but once again WordPress to the rescue.  Anyhow this goes in line with my last two posts , “Hit by a Pitch” – well, not really, but you’ll see what I mean. 

Click link below to view  vdeo:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12117903&topic_id=8879976&c_id=mlb   

Geez,  I kinda liked Derek Jeter.  He’s like the last of the old time heroes.  I always thought it was because he was still single and could get away with indiscretions because he wasn’t hurting his sweet little wife who sat patiently at home waiting for him, because he didn’t have a wife.    But now this puts a bit of a different swing on things don’t you think?  I mean I’m sure a lot of  Yankee fans will think this is great, probably even funny, but this pathetic lie of an acting job probably cost the Rays the game.  Hero?  I don’t think so.  As far as I’m concerned Derek Jeter has dropped a notch,  a lot of notches, probably to the bottom of the belt, in my mind. 

This brings the Hall of Fame to mind once again.  So they don’t want gamblers and substance abusers in the HOF, but will they draw the line when it comes to a big fake?  I didn’t realize it had happened before.  Derek was a hero in my mind and I didn’t really look very hard to prove him otherwise.  See the “Related Articles” below. 

Hey, it’s okay!  We have a few heroes on the horizon.  Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner come to mind,  because I’m a Giants fan probably, but I’m sure you have others on your team you would nominate.  I’d like to hear about them.  It would make for a great blog sometime in the winter while I’m having to sit through one of those goddawful Monday night football games. 

Good grief!   I thought I’d seen it all folks.  But this one really takes the cake!  Is Jeter so stupid he didn’t realize there’s such a thing as “replays” and better yet, “replays in slow motion”?   I guess when you’re making those kind of bucks all bets are off and you do whatever you have to do to get that win.  Ethics, honesty and morality?  We’ll have to look to our young heroes and cross our hearts, hope to die, stick a needle …… and say a prayer once in awhile.   They’re sure gonna need it.