Oh Yeah I Did

 

Derek Jeter, Donald Fehr, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons

As I watched the Hall of Fame induction ceremony approaching, I also watched the tide of Derek Jeter hatred increase from I Don't Know Sports Ave.

So I decided to completely have fun with it and be what everyone thinks anyway.

Oh, sure, I would have tweeted something of Jeter's day and maybe one of the nice tribute videos that ran. But for every, "Duh, he's an OvErRaTeD sHoRtStOp" take that I read, I pressed harder on the accelerator.

Somehow having the sixth-most hits, blah blah blah makes one suck, not be worthy of the Hall of Fame, not be worthy of a first-ballot induction, not be worthy of missing out on being unanimous by one vote...etc.

"Thank you to the baseball writers," Jeter said. "All but one of you."

I loved it and actually laughed out loud in the Dutchess Stadium booth.

"Duh but if Babe Ruth/Ken Griffey Jr/Willie Mays/Hank Aaron weren't unanimous..."

Ah, so cute. But here's the thing, some voters in 1936 thought that Ruth was too freshly retired to be a Hall of Famer (he only retired after 28 games in 1935). As for the others, Hall voters have often been stubborn about not putting a player in unanimously, so Griffey, Mays, Aaron, Mantle, etc suffered as a result. It's only in the last few years we've begun to see a change, and still, only Mariano Rivera has the unanimous vote.

He was the one person everyone could agree on and there will be others.

Oh but yesterday went exactly as expected, from the "vomit" emoji from the usual trolls to Chri Kaelin's swinging and missing claps at me being "a FaNbOy" to fans who jumped on board.

The more I read about it being "Marvin Miller's Day," the more I blasted away.

I grabbed the popcorn and watched it all with a certain level of glee.

Oh, Michael Jordan is there? Retweet.

Bernie Williams is playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Richie Cannata, who played with Billy Joel on the more seminal albums of the 70s? Retweet.

A picture of the plaque? Retweet.

I loved it. I laughed at every. Single. Dumb. Take.

I knew it was how the day would play out.

"If he didn't play in New York..."

"So overrated..."

"Did he hand out gift baskets..."

And, trust me, I saw the troll attempts. We've long-highlighted those who will never see anything positive when it comes to the Yankees. Much like I've said when it comes to...somebody...the Yankees could cure cancer and still be viewed as a villain.

So? I decided to mock all of it.

Sure, I admire Jeter a great deal. How can one not admire a great work ethic, clutch performer, and a person who said all the right things (without saying anything)? I saw Jeter in person, in the Yankees' locker room in 2003. I watched and listened as we gathered around his locker. The way he carried himself was past impressive.

I've never seen anyone better at it.

We all know there's enormous jealousy when it comes to Jeter. We also know there's a lack of a clue as to what made him special unless you watched him.

Talk to real baseball people. They get it.

And I get it.

I watched him almost daily. 

But people hate the "I" word. "Intangible."

Jeter had it.

There were four represented on the stage for the Class of 2020: Jeets, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, and Marvin Miller. The speeches were excellent, though I missed Donald Fehr speaking on behalf of Miller.

People complained about the ceremony being on a Wednesday in September.

Ah. COVID. But I didn't have the energy to argue.

In fact, that was basically my approach to the whole thing. So I just posted and watched and laughed.

The haters can hate.

And hate, hate, hate, hate.

Jeter laughs.

I laugh.

And I'll go to Cooperstown to visit his plaque, along with all of the others. 

All of them.