Look. I like Derek Jeter. We all like Derek Jeter. If you don't like Derek Jeter, you might not like baseball. Frankly, Derek Jeter can do what he wants this week. After 45 years and 2.5 million games playing shortstop for the Yankees (or something like that), he's earned that much.
But turning down a trip to the All-Star Game due to "emotional and physical exhaustion"? That's pretty weak.
Come on, Derek. You're better than that.
At this point, you've been through it all. Nearly 11,000 regular-season plate appearances, 3,004 hits, another 600 postseason at-bats, seven World Series appearances, five championships and 17 years playing in the biggest city, for the team with the most intense media coverage in sports … and you're just getting exhausted now? This week? July 2011? Huh?
Look, Derek doesn't have to play. He's 37, he just came off the disabled list, and he plays for the New York Yankees. First and foremost, his obligation is to the team that pays him now and has paid him an exorbitant amount of money for the last 13 years ($197 million, for those of you keeping score at home). He doesn't have to play, but he could show up to the game, hug Joe Torre, throw out the first pitch and fly home. He could be back in New York, in bed by midnight if he really wanted.
Even then, if he didn't want to show up, that's fine, too. Really, if you get all worked up about someone not going to the All-Star Game, you should find better things to do with your summer evenings. Go down to the waterfront and sit on a bench, or go to a play, or the beach, or a bar. You'll see there's plenty to life outside of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.
I have no problem with Jeter not playing or not showing up, it's just the excuse that's no good. Exhaustion? Really? You just spent three weeks on the DL, wore a Yankee Doodle Dandy jersey in the minors, played for a week, picked up your 3,000th hit in unforgettable fashion in your home ballpark and then hit the break on perhaps the highest note of your career. The whole country right now is in love with Derek Jeter — kind of sounds like it's time for celebration, not exhaustion.
Of course, Jeter's not the only athlete to be less than forthcoming when it comes to public statements. It's not often in their best interests to tell the truth. If a player has an injury and reveals that information publicly, then the opposition knows his weakness. That's bad business. The difference now with Jeter is that he has an opportunity that maybe a handful of players have ever gotten. Record your 3,000th hit in New York City four days before the All-Star Game, fly to Arizona and bask in the warm praise of the crowd, which is happy to celebrate your baseball accomplishments because you've truly been a bright spot in the game for the past decade and a half.
If you're going to pass that up, we just want to know why.
Maybe he really is exhausted, and he's being completely truthful, but there's something about it that just doesn't seem right. All I want — and all anyone should want, really — is the truth. Just be honest — and don't leave it up to Rosenthal and Morosi to tell us what's going on. Tell us that you don't want to go to the All-Star Game because you don't want to take attention away from the guys playing the game (more coast-to-coast Jeter love would follow, too, as an added bonus). Tell us that your calf is not 100 percent and at 37, you need the four days to rest it (that would bring thousands upon thousands of daily questions from the New York media, though). Tell us you had a trip to Cabo planned, or tell us that you don't think a guy who ranks seventh in OPS among AL shortstops and isn't much of a defensive player deserves to start the Midsummer Classic.
Tell us anything, so long as it's the truth. The little fibs and disingenuous explanations are getting a little exhausting.
