Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit for the New York Yankees, the first player to reach the mark with the most successful sports franchise in North America and the 28th in Major League Baseball history.
The milestone hit, a solo home run to left field, came on a 3-2 third-inning pitch from Tampa Bay’s David Price at Yankee Stadium. Jeter joins Wade Boggs as the only players to hit a home run for his 3,000th hit.
Jeter, 37, has spent his entire major-league career with baseball’s highest-profile team in the biggest U.S. media market, sharing the spotlight with singers and starlets while avoiding scandal or serious injury and making $23 million a year. His five World Series titles and 12 All-Star selections are now joined by a benchmark that eluded Hall of Fame Yankees such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio andLou Gehrig.
“He is the fifth member of the Yankee Olympus,” said Peter Golenbock, who has written more than a dozen books on the sport, including several on the club known as the Bronx Bombers. “They are the Big Five, the mega-gods of the Yankee pantheon. None of the others ever made 3,000 hits. Derek will stand alone in the hit department when you talk about the Yankee greats.”
Former Yankees Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs topped 3,000 career hits with other clubs. Jeter is the first to reach the milestone with the franchise, which has won 27 major league championships, more than any other team in North America’s four major pro sports -- baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey.
First Since BiggioThe Yankees’ shortstop and team captain is the first major- leaguer to get 3,000 hits since Craig Biggio in 2007 and the fourth in the past decade. Pete Rose holds the major-league record of 4,256 hits.
“From Day 1 at the toughest position on the field, he’s been consistent, successful, respectful of the game and the fans, and he’s a leader in that clubhouse,” Winfield, now an analyst for ESPN, said of Jeter. “He’s an icon.”
Jeter’s first major-league hit was a single off pitcher Tim Belcher of the Seattle Mariners on May 30, 1995.
He won the American League’s Rookie of the Year award in 1996 and has built a .312 career batting average through July 7, while averaging 194 hits in 15 full seasons.
Jeter’s career has been defined by tenacity and durability in addition to championships. In 2004, he dove headfirst into the stands to make a catch in the 12th inning of a tie game against theBoston Red Sox, a play that left his face bruised and bloodied. Yet over 17 years in the majors, he’s played less than 148 games of a 162-game season only once.
‘Longevity and Consistency’When Jeter’s chase for 3,000 hits was delayed for three weeks when he strained a calf muscle on June 12, it was his first trip to the disabled list since 2003.
“It speaks volumes of a person’s longevity and consistency,” Nomar Garciaparra, a former Red Sox shortstop who followed Jeter as the AL Rookie of the Year in 1997 and won two batting titles before injuries ended his career with 1,747 hits, said in an interview. “That’s playing the game an awful lot and he’s been fortunate and good all at the same time.”
The leader among active players in hits, Jeter signed a three-year contract extension in December that’s worth between $15 million and $17 million annually. The deal came after Jeter hit .270 last year, his lowest batting average for a full season.
Hitting .257 through July 7, Jeter returned to the Yankees on July 4 after the injury and went 0-for-4 in his first game, against Cleveland. The next night, he collected two hits against the Indians to move within four of 3,000, and ticket prices for the Yankees’ next home stand suddenly doubled on resale sites. In the last game of the Cleveland series, he hit a double to move within three of the 3,000.
480th DoubleThe Yankees opened a four-game home stand with the Rays on July 7 and Jeter led off the bottom of the first inning with his 480th career double. He followed with four ground outs as the Yankees lost 5-1. The teams were rained out last night.
Jeter is tied at 3,000 hits with Roberto Clemente, the former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder who died in a 1972 plane crash three months after reaching the mark in his last game.
Of the previous 27 players with 3,000 hits, 24 are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose is banned for gambling on baseball, Rafael Palmeiro has been linked to steroids and Biggio isn’t yet eligible, having played within the past five seasons.
Washington Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez is the next closest active player, with 2,842 hits through July 8.
Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle has more than 3,600 hits in his professional career, getting 1,278 inJapan before joining the Mariners.
Jeter’s hit total doesn’t include the 185 he’s accumulated in 14 postseasons.
Franchise’s FaceFor more than a decade, Jeter has been the face of the Yankees. It is a franchise that from the 1920s through the 1960s produced Ruth, who made the home run a common part of baseball; Gehrig, who played in a then-record 2,130 games in a row; DiMaggio, who hit in a record 56 straight games; and Mantle, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player.
“For Yankee fans of a younger generation, Derek Jeter is equally revered, and that’s saying something,” Golenbock said.
Jeter has played during baseball’s steroid era, with his name never linked to drugs. His space in the tabloids has been limited to relationships with singer Mariah Carey and his fiancée, model and actress Minka Kelly.
When the team closed out the old Yankee Stadium in September 2008, Jeter manned the microphone during the ceremony. In 2010, in the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium across the street, he spoke from the field again at ceremonies marking the death of owner George Steinbrenner.
$15 Million“This was the only team I ever wanted to play for,” Jeter said after signing his new deal with the Yankees in December. He’s under contract through 2013 and is set to make $15 million this year, $16 million in 2012 and $17 million in the final year of the deal.
Jeter’s endorsement deals include Nike Inc. (NKE), PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade brand and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG)’s Gillette unit. Sports Illustrated put his annual income from payroll and sponsorships at $23 million, 22nd among North American athletes.
Jeter was named the greatest New York athlete in history in a Siena College Research Institute Sports Poll in March, beating out Ruth with 14 percent of the vote.
Because of Jeter’s popularity, the ball he put in play for hit No. 3,000 might be worth as much as $250,000, Doug Allen, president of Chicago-based Legendary Auctions, said in a telephone interview. The balls pitched to him were numbered with special markings for authentication purposes, according to baseball spokesman John Blundell.
HBO DocumentaryJeter’s march to 3,000 hits will be the subject of an MLB- produced documentary on Time Warner Inc.’s HBO Sports. Cameras followed Jeter at home and at the ballpark, compiling hundreds of hours of film for the one-hour special.
Jeter is the first major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits while playing shortstop as his only defensive position.
Honus Wagner was at shortstop when he became the third member of the 3,000-hit club in 1914, though he also made starts in the outfield and other infield positions. Former All-Star shortstops Robin Yount and Cal Ripken Jr. changed positions before getting to 3,000 hits, Yount moving to center field and Ripken to third base.
“This is just the end result of Derek playing as well as he has,” Ripken, 50, said in a July 5 telephone interview. “You think of Derek as a clutch performer, as a winner and someone who’s out there each and every day and is going to end up at around 200 hits at the end of the season. It’s a celebration of your whole career.”
The milestone hit, a solo home run to left field, came on a 3-2 third-inning pitch from Tampa Bay’s David Price at Yankee Stadium. Jeter joins Wade Boggs as the only players to hit a home run for his 3,000th hit.
Jeter, 37, has spent his entire major-league career with baseball’s highest-profile team in the biggest U.S. media market, sharing the spotlight with singers and starlets while avoiding scandal or serious injury and making $23 million a year. His five World Series titles and 12 All-Star selections are now joined by a benchmark that eluded Hall of Fame Yankees such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio andLou Gehrig.
“He is the fifth member of the Yankee Olympus,” said Peter Golenbock, who has written more than a dozen books on the sport, including several on the club known as the Bronx Bombers. “They are the Big Five, the mega-gods of the Yankee pantheon. None of the others ever made 3,000 hits. Derek will stand alone in the hit department when you talk about the Yankee greats.”
Former Yankees Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs topped 3,000 career hits with other clubs. Jeter is the first to reach the milestone with the franchise, which has won 27 major league championships, more than any other team in North America’s four major pro sports -- baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey.
First Since BiggioThe Yankees’ shortstop and team captain is the first major- leaguer to get 3,000 hits since Craig Biggio in 2007 and the fourth in the past decade. Pete Rose holds the major-league record of 4,256 hits.
“From Day 1 at the toughest position on the field, he’s been consistent, successful, respectful of the game and the fans, and he’s a leader in that clubhouse,” Winfield, now an analyst for ESPN, said of Jeter. “He’s an icon.”
Jeter’s first major-league hit was a single off pitcher Tim Belcher of the Seattle Mariners on May 30, 1995.
He won the American League’s Rookie of the Year award in 1996 and has built a .312 career batting average through July 7, while averaging 194 hits in 15 full seasons.
Jeter’s career has been defined by tenacity and durability in addition to championships. In 2004, he dove headfirst into the stands to make a catch in the 12th inning of a tie game against theBoston Red Sox, a play that left his face bruised and bloodied. Yet over 17 years in the majors, he’s played less than 148 games of a 162-game season only once.
‘Longevity and Consistency’When Jeter’s chase for 3,000 hits was delayed for three weeks when he strained a calf muscle on June 12, it was his first trip to the disabled list since 2003.
“It speaks volumes of a person’s longevity and consistency,” Nomar Garciaparra, a former Red Sox shortstop who followed Jeter as the AL Rookie of the Year in 1997 and won two batting titles before injuries ended his career with 1,747 hits, said in an interview. “That’s playing the game an awful lot and he’s been fortunate and good all at the same time.”
The leader among active players in hits, Jeter signed a three-year contract extension in December that’s worth between $15 million and $17 million annually. The deal came after Jeter hit .270 last year, his lowest batting average for a full season.
Hitting .257 through July 7, Jeter returned to the Yankees on July 4 after the injury and went 0-for-4 in his first game, against Cleveland. The next night, he collected two hits against the Indians to move within four of 3,000, and ticket prices for the Yankees’ next home stand suddenly doubled on resale sites. In the last game of the Cleveland series, he hit a double to move within three of the 3,000.
480th DoubleThe Yankees opened a four-game home stand with the Rays on July 7 and Jeter led off the bottom of the first inning with his 480th career double. He followed with four ground outs as the Yankees lost 5-1. The teams were rained out last night.
Jeter is tied at 3,000 hits with Roberto Clemente, the former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder who died in a 1972 plane crash three months after reaching the mark in his last game.
Washington Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez is the next closest active player, with 2,842 hits through July 8.
Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle has more than 3,600 hits in his professional career, getting 1,278 inJapan before joining the Mariners.
Jeter’s hit total doesn’t include the 185 he’s accumulated in 14 postseasons.
Franchise’s FaceFor more than a decade, Jeter has been the face of the Yankees. It is a franchise that from the 1920s through the 1960s produced Ruth, who made the home run a common part of baseball; Gehrig, who played in a then-record 2,130 games in a row; DiMaggio, who hit in a record 56 straight games; and Mantle, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player.
“For Yankee fans of a younger generation, Derek Jeter is equally revered, and that’s saying something,” Golenbock said.
Jeter has played during baseball’s steroid era, with his name never linked to drugs. His space in the tabloids has been limited to relationships with singer Mariah Carey and his fiancée, model and actress Minka Kelly.
When the team closed out the old Yankee Stadium in September 2008, Jeter manned the microphone during the ceremony. In 2010, in the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium across the street, he spoke from the field again at ceremonies marking the death of owner George Steinbrenner.
$15 Million“This was the only team I ever wanted to play for,” Jeter said after signing his new deal with the Yankees in December. He’s under contract through 2013 and is set to make $15 million this year, $16 million in 2012 and $17 million in the final year of the deal.
Jeter’s endorsement deals include Nike Inc. (NKE), PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade brand and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG)’s Gillette unit. Sports Illustrated put his annual income from payroll and sponsorships at $23 million, 22nd among North American athletes.
Jeter was named the greatest New York athlete in history in a Siena College Research Institute Sports Poll in March, beating out Ruth with 14 percent of the vote.
Because of Jeter’s popularity, the ball he put in play for hit No. 3,000 might be worth as much as $250,000, Doug Allen, president of Chicago-based Legendary Auctions, said in a telephone interview. The balls pitched to him were numbered with special markings for authentication purposes, according to baseball spokesman John Blundell.
HBO DocumentaryJeter’s march to 3,000 hits will be the subject of an MLB- produced documentary on Time Warner Inc.’s HBO Sports. Cameras followed Jeter at home and at the ballpark, compiling hundreds of hours of film for the one-hour special.
Jeter is the first major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits while playing shortstop as his only defensive position.
Honus Wagner was at shortstop when he became the third member of the 3,000-hit club in 1914, though he also made starts in the outfield and other infield positions. Former All-Star shortstops Robin Yount and Cal Ripken Jr. changed positions before getting to 3,000 hits, Yount moving to center field and Ripken to third base.
“This is just the end result of Derek playing as well as he has,” Ripken, 50, said in a July 5 telephone interview. “You think of Derek as a clutch performer, as a winner and someone who’s out there each and every day and is going to end up at around 200 hits at the end of the season. It’s a celebration of your whole career.”
