DJ3K!!!!1!!1!!!

My dad and I just went to Modell's Sporting Goods store to purchase some extra-long golf tees, and on our way through the front door we were bombarded by signs imploring us to "celebrate" Derek Jeter's 3000th hit by purchasing commemorative bracelets. Uh, no. But it did kind of drive home for me how big a deal people are making of this: a really big deal. And I think that's very telling. In 2009, Jeter played in 153 games, posting a .334 batting average while notching 212 base hits and finishing third in the MVP voting, behind Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira. That was, obviously, a really great season. And I remember that at the time people were talking about the possibility that he would break the all-time hits record. That had been his age-35 season, and he had 2747 hits through that point; to get the 1509 hits he would need to match Pete rose, he would've needed just 7.5 more seasons of the caliber of his '09 showing. Unlikely? Sure. But not impossible, if he played at a very high level on a good offensive team until he was 45 or so.

Now people aren't talking about Jeter setting the all-time hits record. Now people are making a big effing deal out of his getting to 3000. This is not being treated as one more step in the long march of his career, this is being treated as the summation of his career, the valediction. What people will say of Derek Jeter decades from now is that he was a member of the 3000-hits club. That's it. And I think the fact that people are making such a fuss about this number demonstrates that people understand that now, after a year and a half of pure mediocrity from him.

Two quick asides: he went 5-5 today, with the second hit (a home run) being the 3000th. Whatever, good for him, it's his day, he might as well go crazy. Also, yes, those posters used the phrase "DJ3K" to denote this occurrence. I kid you not...