Derek Jeter's All-Star Statement

He is a no-doubt first ballot Hall of Famer. His credentials include five World Series championships, a .312 career batting average, selected as an All-Star every from 1998 to 2011 except for 2005 (a year in which he batted .309, had 202 hits, and 19 homers), and his recent inclusion into the 3,000 hits club. He has been the captain of the New York Yankees storied franchise for years and years and is considered by many to be the best all-around player - on and off the field - in all of Major League Baseball. He was given a one of the last Yankee single-digit numbers for his jersey because George Steinbrenner had an inkling that it might just get retired. Jeter is already a baseball legend and he has, at least, a few more productive years in his legs and bat.

This year, like eleven previous years, Jeter was voted an All-Star. This year, unlike the others, he didn't play in the All-Star game. He didn't even make the trip to the game. Why not? Well, only a short time before the All-Star game, Jeter was released from the disabled list. Did he not play because of a lingering injury? Nope. A personal issue that required his full attention? Nah, that's not it either. Instead, he claims that he needed a rest and that he was dealing with physical exhaustion.

Okay, I might buy that . . . except for the fact that, the day he hit number 3,000, he went 5 for 5 and this only a few days before the All-Star game. As soon as I heard his "exhaustion" excuse, my spider sense immediately began to tingle. While I don't have the memory of an elephant, certain things do get filed away and retained. Maybe you'll remember too.

Think back to when the site for this year's All-Star game was announced. Perhaps you now remember what the rumpus that ensued over Arizona's immigration laws and the cries for baseball to boycott the All-Star game. See where I'm going now?

There were quite a few players who were selected but didn't play or make the trip. Some were legitimately unable to play. Ole Chipper Jones had surgery on a torn meniscus, for instance. Jeter, though, and his "exhaustion" ain't quite the same.

Here's my take: Jeter must be a lib, he lives in New York, after all. I think that he went through with his boycott of the game and came up a bit short in the excuse department. For now, I can only speculate but I bet that some years from now, when his career is long finished, he will admit that he didn't play - much less show up - precisely because he followed-through on the Arizona boycott.

The exhaustion bit just doesn't make any sense. He'd only have played an inning or two and that would require him to be on the field for a whopping twenty minutes. If the dude can go 5 for 5 and three days later be too tired to play for one inning, maybe he ought to hang 'em up.

This gripes at me mostly because I love baseball and to see an icon use the game to make a political point - and an ignorant point at that - takes away from his on-field accomplishments and the purity of the game.