Wow. Derek Jeter to Retire

He was everything you wanted in an athlete. Strong, yet silent. Professional, but hard playing. He didn't need the long ball. Just consistency. Lots of hits. Lots of them.

And winning. That's all he was about.

Derek Jeter has just announced he will retire after 2014. A legion - a generation - of baseball fans are sickened by this news.

Count me in.

I stood near him once, in the clubhouse at the old building on Rupper Place. No athlete had ever impressed me so much with his grace and his ability to give answers, professionally, without not really saying a thing.

With that, the core four will be gone. Mo left last year. So did Andy Pettitte. Posada left before them. Bernie Williams, the fifth member of that "core," left several years earlier.

Jeter, it was thought, would have a few years left. Not so, he said on Facebook today. He's done.

He said: "And the thing is, I could not be more sure. I know it in my heart."

We thank you, Captain. This will be the first of many more words to be spoken about Derek Jeter in 2014.