He Did It: NY Yankees Derek Jeter Gets His 3,000th Hit with Slammin’ Home Run (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 9, 2011
NY Yankees Derek Jeter broke into the 3,000 hit club today at Yankee Stadium
Stellar! One for the sports record books — today at Yankee Stadium, 37-year-old New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter became the 28th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits, and also became the first player in the Yankees’ history to achieve 3,000 hits. He is now the second player to ever hit a home run for his 3,000th hit.
This commentary aired earlier this week prior to Jeter’s 3K hit.
Globe 10.0: Where will Derek Jeter rank in the 3,000 hit club?
Breaking news from New York Times, Jeter Reaches 3,000 Hits With Home Run:
Derek Jeter became the 28th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits on Saturday, with a home run in the third inning at Yankee Stadium off the Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price. In doing so, Jeter became the first player in the Yankees’ storied history to reach the hallowed number.
Jeter is the active leader in hits and the first player to collect his 3,000th since Craig Biggio of Houston in 2007. He is also the first to achieve the milestone at Yankee Stadium, old or new, and the fourth youngest player to do it. Only Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount joined the club at a younger age than Jeter, who turned 37 on June 26.
Jeter accomplished it all without playing anywhere but shortstop, the most physically demanding position on the field besides catcher. Only three other players, Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr. and Yount, have recorded 3,000 hits while playing most of their careers at shortstop.
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The Cleveland series ended with Jeter needing three hits for 3,000, and the Yankees headed back to the Bronx. Jeter closed the old Yankee Stadium with a stirring speech to the crowd in 2008, and helped christen the new version with a championship in 2009.
He also passed Lou Gehrig that season for the franchise record in hits, with 2,722. It was a stirring moment, even if it had little resonance outside Yankee Stadium. With 3,000 hits, Jeter has matched a revered number in the game’s history, and left an indelible mark.
From USA Today, Derek Jeter gets 3,000th hit with home run:
NEW YORK — Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees made history with style as he belted a home run to left field for career hit No. 3,000 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees shortstop drilled a 3-2 curveball off Tampa Bay Rays left hander David Price deep into the left field stands in the bottom of the third inning to earn his place in the 3,000-hit club with 27 other players ranging from Hank Aaron and Willie Mays to Ty Cobb and Stan Musial.
The Yankees captain added a double to left in the fifth inning, a single to left in the first and a single to right in the sixth. He’s 4-for-4 so far today and a triple away from completing the cycle.
Jeter’s the first player to achieve 3,000 hits in Yankees pinstripes. His teammates led by close friend Jorge Posada mobbed him as he crossed home plate. The sellout crowd of 48,103 at the new Yankee Stadium gave him a standing ovation and chanted, “DER-EK, JET-ER,” as he came out of the home dugout for curtain calls. The crowd noise was so loud that fans couldn’t hear the public address announcer for a couple of minutes.
Afterward, the Yankees played taped tributes to Jeter from current and former teammates as well as some of his most memorable hits and defensive plays.
This compilation of great Jeter baseball moments aired in April — his 3,000th hit will have to be added to it.
Derek Jeter’s Greatest Moments
From NY Daily News, Derek Jeter 3,000: Yankees captain collects milestone hit with home run off Rays’ David Price:
…Fans cheered and stood even as Jeter was striding to the plate and oohed and aahed at every pitch and often chanted his name. Even the Rays were all watching from the top step of their dugout and after Jeter had celebrated at the plate, several of them walked out of their dugout and applauded.
The Yankee captain is the fourth-youngest player to get to 3K at 37 years, 13 days old, faster by eight days than Hit King Pete Rose and behind only Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount. Wade Boggs is the only other player to hit a home run for his 3,000th hit.
Jeter, who started today needing two hits, led off for the Yankees with a single through the shortstop-third hole off of Tampa Bay starter David Price, ending an eight-pitch at-bat. Fans, who were all already standing, roared as the ball skipped through the infield.
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The hit caps a binge of milestones for Jeter over the past few years, including setting the all-time Yankee hit record back in 2009.
Jeter, who was born in Pequannock, New Jersey, but raised in Kalamazoo, Mich., was the Yankees’ first-round draft pick in 1992, No. 6 overall. He spent four full seasons climbing the ladder in the Yanks’ minor-league system.
Jeter’s remarkable major-league career started with a 15-game callup in 1995 to sub for injured shortstop Tony Fernandez. Jeter got his first career hit on May 30, 1995 in Seattle against Tim Belcher, who is now the Cleveland Indians’ pitching coach.
And this story is a real heartwarmer — Fan returns 3,000th hit to Jeter, team rewards his generosity:
As a 23-year-old cell phone salesman, Christian Lopez had thousands of reasons to hold out for the highest bidder on the baseball from Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit. In fact, some estimates put the ball’s worth at $250,000, money that the recent graduate from St. Lawrence University could have certainly used.
And yet when New York Yankees officials found Lopez after he corralled Jeter’s historic home run, the only thing that the big Yankees fan wanted was to return the ball to the man who had hit it.
Lopez not only returned the coveted ball to Jeter, but wanted no payment for it. It gets better:
But lest you think the Yankees were just going to take the ball away without any compensation, they rewarded Lopez’s generosity with a pretty nice package. According to Kay, Lopez will receive four tickets to a suite for every remaining game at Yankee Stadium this season (including any possible playoff games) plus first row Legends Suite tickets to Sunday’s game. He will also receive an assortment of bats and jerseys, plus the opportunity to meet Jeter.
Not a bad haul for someone who was at the game on birthday tickets he received from his girlfriend.
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