5 Reasons New York Yankees Fans Will Miss Derek Jeter When He Retires

5 Reasons New York Yankees Fans Will Miss Derek Jeter When He Retires

What can be said about Derek Jeter? The captain of the New York Yankees and certainly one of the most beloved players in recent memory announced recently that the 2014 season will be his last. That’s right the cornerstone of the most recent Yankees dynasty is going to retire. Clearly there are people who are upset about this and others who understand.

We all know there are some teams that competitively will be glad that Jeter is no longer with the Yankees. I suspect however that most people in and around the game of MLB will be sad to see him go, no matter how tough he is to beat. More than other teams or MLB officials however, the fans of the Yankees will miss Jeter the most of anyone.

Here is a guy who was drafted by the Yankees, came up in their farm system and is going to retire as their captain. Considering the way Yankees players have come and gone over the last two decades in the era of free agency, Jeter is certainly a rare commodity. There are a lot of things that Yankees fans will miss for sure.

Certainly there are more than five things but this slideshow is going to look at five specific things that the fans will really miss about the captain. As far as his retirement goes, it seems to be coming at a good time for him. He just saw a couple of greats go out last season and now Jeter will get the sendoff that he rightly deserves at every place he plays in 2014.

David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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5 – The Grin

This might seem to be a little gooey for an MLB article but there really is something infectious about Jeter’s grin that he wears most of the time. It is one of those smiles that is difficult to see and not return as well as being something that just gives a decent feeling to you.

4 – Clutch

Jeter is one of the guys that you want up there with the game on the line. It doesn’t matter how big the stage is, Jeter has ice water running through his veins when it comes to clutch situations. His career marks with 2 outs and runners in scoring position include a batting average of .305 and a .833 OPS. That kind of thing is difficult to duplicate.

3 – Loyalty

In the MLB free agency era, for a player to remain with the same team for a two decade career is remarkable by itself. When you consider that Jeter played that entire time with the most free agent happy franchise of them all, it becomes even more amazing. The Yankees are unlikely to find that level of loyalty anytime in the near future. Robinson Cano’s jettison to Seattle is evidence of that.

2 – Hustle

One of the most amazing plays ever is when Jeter and A-Rod were both running towards a pop-up that was heading towards the stands. A-Rod backed off smartly enough but Jeter never stopped running. He ran and dove full speed into the stands just because that was an out he wanted. Clearly that level of hustle is rare as well. It will be missed.

1 – Leadership

For a player to make his entire team better just by being in the line-up means something in MLB. It is different than other sports in that if someone has that effect on a team, it shows great leadership qualities. Jeter has that great ability and for absolute certain it will be impossible to match for a long time. The captain will be missed.