Thursday, September 10, 2009

Putting Jeter, and the man he passes, in context

Congratulations to Derek Jeter on tying and passing (which is inevitable) of Lou Gehrig's Yankee hit record. Any time you break a record for an organization which has been around as long as the
Yankees have, it is quite an accomplishment. The thing that amazes me though is not what the record is, but who held it. Think about it...the New York Yankees. Over 100 years of history, including 26 world championship seasons. This is the organization that employed, among others:

Babe Ruth for 15 seasons
Yogi Berra for 18 seasons
Mickey Mantle for 18 seasons
Don Mattingly for 14 seasons
Bernie Williams for 16 seasons

All of those players were very good, if not great, hitters. Yet the record holder, before Jeter passes him, is Lou Gehrig. As everyone knows, the Iron Horse's career (and life) was cut short by ALS. Despite that, he was such a tremendous hitter that he accumulated more hits than all of the aforementioned players despite his career essentially ending at age 35.

It just seems to me that because of the premature end to his career, he would not be among the first people one would guess held the career hit mark for such a storied franchise. One comparison I can think of is the Red Sox single season home run record, which was set by David Ortiz in 2006. His 54 home run season was only the second season of 50 or more home runs in franchise history. The first, a season of 50 home runs exactly, was not accomplished by Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, or Jim Rice, or Manny Ramirez, who are the names most people would first guess. The owner of that 50 home run season, and the previous record holder for the franchise, was Jimmie Foxx.

Jeter's accomplishment is a credit to him, and he is a great player. To me though, the more amazing thing that should not go unnoticed is the extent of Lou Gehrig's greatness and prowess as a hitter.

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