Briefly On Jeter's Last All-Star Game...

(Courtesy of USA TODAY Sports)

I thought it was awesome.  All of it.  Most of what went down last night is going to get swallowed up in Adam Wainwright-gate today, and that's fine.  I really don't care if he grooved a pitch for Jeter or not.  As tiresome as the MSM's love for Jeter can get, and I've admittedly soured on a lot of his media-made reputation as I've gotten older, last night was really cool to watch.  It was great seeing how much respect and genuine admiration all the players had for him, it was great seeing the old inside-out swing for a double down the right field line again, and it was great to see Jeter make that diving stop in the 1st and show that he can still dial it up and do stuff like that from time to time, even at age 40.

There are great players, good players, All Stars, and MVPs, but there are very few generational players in baseball.  Derek Jeter is a generational player.  He's one of, if not the first player you think of when you think of the last 20 years of baseball, and hundreds of years from now when people are looking back through history, he'll still be the first name associated with this era.  Players like that deserve to have a special send-off from their peers and fellow competitors and fans and it was neat to get to watch Jeter get that moment last night.  It was cool with Mo, it was cool with Cal Ripken, and it was cool last night.  Even somebody as jaded on Jeter as me can admit and appreciate that.

Yanks Announce Plans To Honor A Bunch Of Guys

I was running around for most of the day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to cover this.  The Yankees announced plans to honor multiple former team members yesterday, most notably former manager Joe Torre.  Torre will have his number 6 retired in a pregame ceremony on August 23rd.  The manager for the most recent Yankee dynasty of the late 90s-early 2000s, Torre and the team have had to work to repair their relationship over the last few years.  It's good to see that that work has been completed.

The team also announced that there will be ceremonies to honor former players Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, and Goose Gossage with plaques in Monument Park.  Those ceremonies will be held on June 21st (Martinez), 22nd (Gossage), and August 9th (O'Neill).  To be honest, I'm a little surprised that all 3 of these guys are receiving plaques out there.  They were good Yankees but not great Yankees, and I don't think they deserve to be honored before better, homegrown players like Bernie Williams.

Speaking of Bernie, the team did say there are plans to honor him next year, although they did not announce what the plans are or when that will happen.  Hopefully Bernie gets his number 51 retired because he deserves it.  Between him, Paulie, Tino, Torre, and whatever's planned for Derek Jeter at the end of this season, the Yankees are going heavy on honoring that late 90s dynasty.  When Jeter has his number retired, that will be the end of single digit numbers in Yankeeland.  Pretty cool.

Thoughts On Jeter's Retirement Announcement

By now we've all had time to read and digest yesterday's somewhat shocking announcement by Derek Jeter.  I say shocking because while I believed that this would be Jeter's last season, I definitely didn't see him going the Mo route and announcing it before the season and I definitely definitely didn't see him doing it via a pretty personal message posted to his Facebook page.

I said yesterday when I first posted the story that I needed time to gather my thoughts on this, and to be perfectly honest I'm still not sure how to go about writing about it.  Derek Jeter has been my favorite baseball player and favorite professional athlete period since his rookie season in 1996, the season that I first remember really paying close attention to the game of baseball and the first season where I could truly say I was a Yankee fan.  He's the greatest Yankee I'll ever see in my lifetime and some of my greatest sports memories are Jeter plays.  The Flip, the home run in the '01 World Series, the dive into the stands, the 3,000th hit.  I can remember those plays and where I was when I first saw them more vividly than I can remember what I did last Sunday afternoon.

I've also taken a much more objective stance in how I've viewed and written about Jeter in the last 2 years, almost to the point of being anti-Jeter at times.  I came right out and said I wanted him to retire in September because I didn't want to see him hobble through another lost season in 2014 and have those last 2 years be the final images of him that I'd remember.  So it was a bit of a clash of emotions yesterday when I read his message and started thinking back on all the Jeter memories I have, good and bad.  I'm already rambling here, and I don't think there's any way I can try to weave all of what I'm going to write into one coherent narrative, so to make it easier I'll just break it up into bite-size chunks and at least get some of what's been going through my head out there.

High Praise For McCann

John Harper of the Daily News wrote a profile piece on new catcher Brian McCann yesterday, and the comparison made between McCann and another former Yankee catcher was the standout quote of the article:

"'Mr. Steinbrenner told me the story the day we were in New York for the press conference,' Howie McCann, Brian’s father, was saying on Wednesday. 'He said everyone there agreed they needed a catcher, and then Gene Michael stood up and said, ‘We want McCann because he reminds me of Thurman Munson, he has that same demeanor, that same toughness.’"

Considering the long and storied history of Yankee catchers, being compared to Thurman Munson is about the highest compliment you can receive.  Part of what people liked about the McCann signing was his reputation as a clubhouse leader and everything in Harper's article makes it sound like he's going to be a good one for this team.  With guys like Andy and Mo retired, and with the current captain not far behind, the Yankee clubhouse is a little lighter on vocal leadership than it's been in years past.  A modern day version of Munson behind the plate will go a long way in ensuring that the team's high standards don't slip as its last links to the most recent glory days move on.

What Other Number Are The Yankees Going To Retire This Year?

Not everything Hal had to say at the owners' meeting earlier this week was A-Rod-related.  One of the more fun talking points that came up in his media session was the implication that the Yankees could be retiring multiple numbers this season.  With Joe Torre getting elected to the HOF, it's obvious that his #6 will be going out to Monument and that day and ceremony at The Stadium will be awesome.  Hal's statement on the eventual date left the door open for somebody else to join him:

“We’re going to figure out just who.  He may not be the only one.  We haven’t gotten into it yet.”

So who's the other lucky duck?  The players who make the most sense are Andy Pettitte, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, and Jorge Posada.  Pettitte and Jorge haven't been retired long enough to have their numbers retired, although it's obvious the team is going to retire them at some point down the road.  O'Neill, as much as I love him, wasn't a lifelong Yankee and wasn't a homegrown Yankee, so I'd be surprised if he got the honor before the other guys.

That leaves Bernie.  Homegrown, 16-year career, all in pinstripes, 4 WS titles, has been retired for almost 10 years now, and has had his number 51 out of circulation since he retired.  That's basically the perfect resume for Monument Park.  If the Yankees are serious about adding another honoree with Torre this year, I think it'll end up being Bernie.

On Don Mattingly's HOF Worthiness

(Courtesy of the AP)

One of the most interesting things I read over the weekend was Bryan Hoch's post on Yankees.com about Don Mattingly and his thoughts on his Hall Of Fame chances.  After 13 years of coming in way low on the voting percentages, Mattingly enters his 14th and second-to-last year of eligibility confident that he won't get enough votes to make it this year.  Coming off last year's vote, when he appeared on just 13.2% of the ballots, I'd say he has every reason to feel that way.

What really stood out to me in the post was how cool, calm and accepting Mattingly was of the fact that he almost certainly will never make the HOF.  Mattingly himself said, ""My first year of eligibility, I pretty much knew I wasn't going to make it or anything.  I don't pay that much attention to it, to be honest with you. It's to the point now where it comes up and you're like, 'Oh, it's over,' and you go on."  Mattingly understands that his injury problems and decision to retire at 34 cost him a chance at accumulating the stats he would have needed to get in and he's cool with that.

What A Moment

Awesome.  Undeniably awesome and hands down the most memorable moment of the season.

No, thank you, Mo.  Thank you.

Say It Ain't Mo (And Andy)

(Courtesy of the NY Post)

They have 72 win/save games together, the most in MLB history and a testatement to their greatness and longevity.  They have the most postseason wins (Andy) and the most postseason saves (Mo) in MLB history, a testament to the greatness of their teams and their knack for pitching the best when the lights are the brightest.  Between the 2 of them, they have a complete set of World Series rings for a pair of hands, something very few living players in baseball history can claim.

And this afternoon they'll both take the field in what could be their final time pitching together in Yankee Stadium.  Even if the game turns into a blowout, there's little chance Joe won't use Mo today on Mariano Rivera Day at The Stadium, and Andy isn't scheduled to pitch again until the final series of the season next week in Houston.  After all the history they've made together in Yankee Stadium, this afternoon's game could, and in all likelihood will be their last chance to add to that history.

I've been watching these guys pitch since I was 10 years old.  They're just as responsible for turning me into the Yankee fan I am today as Jeter is, and even though they've had long, illustrious, HOF-worthy careers, I'm still not quite ready to see them go.  If they have to, what better way than with a vintage tag team performance today to add to their records.

Mo's Final (Home)Stand

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Tonight marks the start of the final homestand of the 2013 season for the Yankees, and with it the all but certain final 6 home games of Mariano Rivera's career.  After 573 regular season games, 653.1 innings pitched, and over 2600 batters faced inside the hallowed walls of the old Yankee Stadium and fancy schmancy walls of the new Yankee Stadium, the finish line on Mo's long and illustrious career is in sight and the first big milestone is a mere 6 days away.

It was a surreal feeling watching him run out of the bullpen a few weekends ago, and I imagine that feeling will be 10 times greater this weekend.  Mo has pitched what comes out to over 72.5 full 9-inning games at Yankee Stadium, and now he's down to his final few innings.  All the cutters, all the strikeouts, all the broken bats.  Not many more of them left to see and it still doesn't feel quite real.

There is a ton of stuff planned to celebrate Mo's career and retirement this weekend and all of it should be spectacular.  But nothing will ever equal the awesomeness of just watching Mo work.  I know I'll be parked on my couch on Sunday afternoon, hoping to get one more chance to watch him jog out to "Enter Sandman" and close out a game.  There isn't much left for the Yankees to play for this season.  Making this weekend count with some wins and sending Mo out on the highest note possible should be the top priority.

Jorge Throwing Out The First Pitch Tomorrow

(Courtesy of Debby Wong/US Presswire)

Everybody probably already knows this by now, but if not, BREAKING NEWZ!!!!

Tomorrow is the home opener and the recently-retired Jorge Posada is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  As someone (probably one of the few) who was always on the fence when it came to Jorge and not head-over-heels in fanlove with him like most Yankee fans, I will say that I am pleasantly surprised that this is happening.

Truth be told, I thought there would be a little more time between his retirement and return to Yankee Stadium because of how things ended between Jorge and the Yankees.  There was the whole "taking himself out of the lineup" fiasco last the season, the outright declaration by the Yankees that they weren't going to offer him a new deal, and Jorge basically being forced to retire because no other teams were interested in him.  I got the sense from watching the clips of his retirement press conference and reading some of the quotes that he really didn't WANT to have to hang them up, and I'm glad that there doesn't appear to be any ill will between him and the one organization he called home for so long.

Tomorrow afternoon's game will definitely be in the top 5 for games I wish I could have attended since I moved out to Wisconsin and it's simply because Jorge is going to be there to throw out the first pitch.  The atmosphere is going to be INSANE!  I'm literally getting goosebumps right now at my desk thinking about how loud that ovation is going to be.  After the rough way Jorge went out as a player, it's only right to bring him right back to the place where he is universally loved so he can be reminded of just how important and beloved a member of the Yankee family he is.

** If any AB4AR readers are going to the game tomorrow, take some pictures or video of the days' events and send them to me.  I'd love to get a sense of what the atmosphere was like and I'd love to throw some stuff up in a post. **