As Derek Jeter nears his induction to the Baseball Corridor of Fame, we’re all wanting for new methods to mark an celebration found as unavoidable for additional than a decade.
Perfectly, here’s one succinct way to place Jeter’s remarkable occupation into context:
No participant in Major League Baseball history has performed additional online games, scored much more runs or collected much more hits — through an period in which his team created the playoffs each and every year — than Jeter.
For the applications of this discussion, let us take into consideration the longest postseason streaks in MLB historical past:
Braves: 14 a long time (1991-93 and 1995-2005)
Yankees: 13 decades (1995-2007)
Dodgers: 8 several years (2013-20, energetic)
More than the Yankees’ 13-yr streak, Jeter led the crew in online games (1,835), operates (1,379) and hits (2,356). The Yanks received 4 Earth Series for the duration of that streak, then included a fifth in 2009 — one particular year just after the streak finished. Jeter was omnipresent on our television sets every single October, earning a place in the American athletics consciousness that is unique among gamers of his generation — and has been unmatched considering that.
Hall of Famer Chipper Jones led the Braves in video games (1,651), operates (1,101) and hits (1,811) from 1991-2005, but he did not surpass Jeter’s totals through the Yankees’ 13-calendar year operate, even when such as data from the strike-shortened 1994 year. Notably, Atlanta gained just one Entire world Sequence for the duration of its record-setting streak of playoff appearances.
Jones manufactured his Significant League debut in September 1993, when the Braves now were being on the verge of their 3rd consecutive Nationwide League West title. Jeter experienced played 15 games with the Yankees when their streak began with a 1995 AL Wild Card berth he received the AL Rookie of the Year Award as the Yanks’ daily shortstop in ’96.
Comparisons to the up to date Dodgers are even far more hanging. Los Angeles is the reigning Globe Sequence champion, with a roster of past and long term MVP and Cy Younger Award winners, but the crew does not have a Jeter.
Jeter’s job is distinguished by the fact that the Yankees begun successful Planet Series championships as soon as he grew to become their everyday shortstop in his age-22 period. The Dodgers, by contrast, didn’t earn a title right up until the eighth calendar year of their streak.
Justin Turner led the Dodgers in video games (796), runs (420) and hits (810) from 2013-20 — he did not be part of the team until eventually ’14 — but he entered this time additional than 1,500 guiding Jeter in the group of “most hits collected all through a streak of playoff appearances.”
Although the Yankees’ championship operate was characterized by the Core 4, the Dodgers are identified for their interchangeability. Just after Turner, those people who played the most video games for the Dodgers from 2013-20 — Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig and Adrián González — aren’t with the firm any more.
Turner, 36, is having a usually successful period, with an .829 OPS although earning his 2nd occupation All-Star appearance. By the time Jeter was the age Turner is now, he’d amassed 2,926 vocation hits and five Entire world Collection championships.
For Turner and the Dodgers to equal the Jeter/Yankees conventional — five Globe Series championships, 13 straight postseason appearances — they would need to have to make the playoffs every calendar year by 2025 though profitable every Tumble Classic but 1. When the ’25 period is in excess of, Turner will be a number of weeks absent from turning 41.
To be guaranteed, Dodgers star Mookie Betts is a opportunity Hall of Famer with two Planet Collection rings. The 28-calendar year-previous has previously reached two things — win a batting title and an MVP Award — that eluded Jeter. Betts, nevertheless an elite defender, has also equaled Jeter’s 5 career Gold Gloves.
Still Betts did not get there in L.A. until eventually Yr 8 of the Dodgers’ streak. In reality, his Crimson Sox defeated the Dodgers in the 2018 Environment Sequence. Betts’ clutch times in the postseason, his two-way brilliance and his regard in just the sport are all Jeter-esque, but as a result of no fault of his have, he was not there for the commence of this Dodgers era.
As a result Jeter stands by itself in the steadiness of his contributions and the regularity of his winning. There is in no way been a player like him. The superlatives you will hear from Cooperstown this week are comprehensively deserved.