BOSTON — Joe Girardi choked back back tears Sunday as he struggled to articulate what it’s meant to serve as Derek Jeter’s manager.
Ultimately, he settled on one word.
“It’s been a blessing,” the New York Yankees manager — and former teammate of Jeter’s — said after the shortstop’s final major league game, “to play along with such a great player. To manage a guy that is what you want in every player. What you want every player to care about. What you want every player to fight for. What you want every player to do.”
Jeter’s 19-year Hall of Fame career came to an end on a sun-soaked September afternoon at Fenway Park — in front of a Boston Red Sox crowd that was anything but hostile toward its longtime nemesis.
Instead, the Fenway Faithful treated the Yankees captain to rousing ovations from batting practice, into the legend-laden pregame ceremony — which Girardi called “magnificent” — and straight through to the final out of New York’s 9-5 win, with unprompted chants of “De-rek Je-ter” cropping up every half-inning or so. A large portion of the fans did show up to the park in pinstripes, but even those wearing Red Sox colors showed Jeter the respect he undeniably deserves.
“I was thinking about how great this rivalry has been over the years and all the things that have happened — the playoff games, everything — and I don’t know how many people could really unite a crowd like he did (Sunday),” Girardi said. “Such big rivals, so much history between the teams, but you would have thought it was one team in a sense today. And I don’t know how many players can do that in any sport. But I think it shows you the respect he has, even against your toughest rival.”
At no time were those cheers louder than the in third inning, when Jeter chopped a Clay Buchholz offering toward third base for an infield single in what would be his final at-bat. Brian McCann took over as a pinch runner, and Jeter saluted the crowd as he walked off one last time.
Girardi revealed after the game that, had he recorded one more hit, Jeter would have tied Ty Cobb’s record by reaching the 150-hit plateau 19 times. The Captain, however, was ready to ride off into the sunset.
“The only way it could have worked out better is if we were playing (in the playoffs) next week, but from an emotional standpoint, I think there’s a lot of joy in his heart,” Girardi said. “I think there’s sadness, as well. I think he was emotionally drained. He’s done a really good of focusing on what he needed to focus on — and that’s winning games — during the course of this, but as we got here, he let his guard down, which couldn’t have been easy for him. But he did.”
He certainly did. Even a Red Sox fan will tell you that.
Photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
