I Lost Respect for the Captain Tonight

A Guest Blog By Parks Smith

Disagreeing against the New York Yankees is sure to bring a lot of backlash, but I lost a lot of respect for their legendary shortstop Derek Jeter tonight.  Why? Well I got home from work and playing softball to hear that the 17 year veteran, fresh off 3,000 hits was a no-show for the All Star Game in Arizona because of….wait for it….exhaustion… Sure Jeter had a lot of pressure on him for 3,000, but really was playing in Cleveland for three games that exhausting? He played for less than week.

Jeter has always been a benchmark of character when many of the athletes of his time have lacked that quality. But would Cal Ripken Jr. bolted a fan invite to the ASG because of exhaustion? Absolutely not! Jeter owes it to the fans and himself to play in this game.  Sure, he may play in another, but I don’t think he deserves to at this point. Quite frankly Jeter is a terrible defensive player and his bat is nearly non existent at this point. But still he’s a good player, but not great. He certainly doesn’t deserve to be on the largest all-star roster of all time. But to no show? Without a heads up? Come on Jeter! Where’s your class? Show up, play a couple of innings and give the fans their due.  Thank god he’s not in the National League or I might be heading to AZ to campaign for Mike Morse myself.

Is Jeter really that great of a captain? He was a great player and one of the greatest Yankees of all time, who pulled them up from the depths when they needed it, but he’s far from deserving the title of captain.  He’s selfish, he’s LeBron James, but has said the right things and handled himself in the right manner. When ARod needed a teammate to help him transition, where was Jeter? Who was the better defensive SS? ARod or Jeter? The answer is simple. Jeter has never put the team first above him. The Yanks were successful from 96 to 2000 b/c they had veteran leadership beyond Jeter. Since then he’s been incredibly unsuccessful, captaining his team to one world championship in the last ten years, despite having the best roster and biggest payroll in baseball.

When things go wrong for Yankees players/pitchers the media swarms and where is Derek Jeter?