Jeter, however, does not want to hear any of it.
"It's comical to me that this is really getting this much attention," Jeter said Friday, according to the New York Post.
As for the accusations that he's a cheater?
"Everyone says it's cheating, but what did I do?" Jeter said. "The ball hit the bat, he told me to go to first. How is that cheating?"
Jeter has a point, but the fact that he spent several seconds leaning over with his hands on his knees doesn't really help his case. The umpire told him to go to first, yes, but he unquestionably took it to a new level with the sell job. The right and wrong of that can be debated, sure (but even Joe Maddon didn't think it was wrong), but rules are rules, and it was Jeter's only option to take first base for free.
"It seems like people think I turned around and told him that the ball hit me and please let me go to first base," he told the Post. "What am I supposed to do? Say, 'I'm sorry sir but it didn't hit me, please let me continue to hit.' You know what I mean?
"So the next time somebody steals a base and the guy doesn't tag you and the umpire calls you out, do you want the fielder to say, 'No, sir I didn't tag him so let's just keep him here.' Come on, man. I mean, seriously," he added.
While Jeter may have milked it a little, the fact is that he's hitting .159 since Aug. 23 with a .266 on-base percentage. If ever in his long career he needed a free base, Wednesday night might have been the time.
