Top 106 Baseball Players: #74 - Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is a familiar name to current baseball fans, as he retired only a few years ago, and his career was unique in that it didn't look like a mountain range with a few high peaks, but like a steady, even plateau.

Jeter played a few games for the Yankees in 1995 before being made the starting shortstop to open the 1996 season, and he made an immediate impact, batting .314 with 183 hits and 104 runs, which were pretty much his season averages every season for the rest of his career. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award for his performance.

He also played in his first World Series that year, batting only .250 in the final round, but it would be one of only 2 World Series in his career where he would bat below .340. The Yankees did win the World Series that year, so he was a champion as soon as his career started.

The Yankees won 3 more World Series titles in that decade, with Jeter batting at least .350 in each, and he was named World Series MVP in 2000 after batting .409 with 2 homers against the Mets. The following season he earned the nickname "Mr. November" after hitting a game-winning home run in extra innings of a game that started on Halloween but lasted past midnight, the first Major League game to be played in November. It was his only RBI of the entire series, and one of only 4 hits total, and the Yankees lost to the Diamondbacks as a result.

In his career, Jeter topped 100 runs scored and 180 hits 13 times each, and eclipsed 200 hits 8 times, leading the league twice in that category. The Yankees reached the playoffs 17 times in his 20 seasons, and he did not miss the playoffs in his first 13 seasons. The Yankees reached the World Series 7 times during his stay, winning the championship 5 times.

Jeter is the Yankees all-time leader in hits, doubles, stolen bases, and games played, which are all major accomplishments when you are talking about the most storied franchise in history. He is also the all-time playoff leader in games played, hits, singles, doubles, triples, and runs scored, and has a .321 World Series batting average.

He reached the 3000 hit mark in 2011, and was the second player in history to hit a home run on the historic hit. He was the 4th-youngest player ever to reach the milestone, behind Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Robin Yount, and he is the only person ever to hit #3000 while playing for the Yankees. By the time he retired, he was #6 on the all-time hits list, behind 5 other who will appear later in this countdown.

Jeter was probably the most consistent baseball player of all time, and that trait was instrumental in the Yankees 5 championships during his time there. He was a major player on all of those title teams, and usually played well even when they did not advance or win. He is near the top of the all-time leaderboard in both hits and runs scored, and will be a member of the Hall of Fame in a couple years, but for now he is at least on this list of the top players of all time.