Derek Jeter Leaves Yankees with a Hit and 9-5 Win Over Red Sox

 

The ball, marked and numbered for the occasion, bounced high off the dirt and down the third-base line, where a rookie who was 4 years-old when Derek Jeter made his major league debut leaped into the air to attempt a bare-handed play. 

 

It went off of his palm and onto the grass, and by that time Jeter was safe at first with hit No. 3,465 – sixth all-time, and the most in franchise history – along with the 1,311th RBI of a career in which he established himself as the New York Yankees' consummate captain and, for two decades, the face of baseball. 

 

Jeter bid baseball adieu with an RBI single on a chopper, a dugout full of hugs and a final wave to the fans on Sunday, concluding his Hall of Fame career by helping the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 9-5. 

 

"In an era where few heroes exist, over a 20-year span he represented the sport and himself in an absolutely magnificent way. It's almost hard to believe," commissioner Bud Selig said this weekend when he stopped by Fenway for his own farewell tour. "He makes one proud." 

 

 

 

Three days after an emotional farewell in New York, pinstripe-wearing fans filled Fenway Park for Jeter's finale, chanting for him and the visiting Yankees and standing for each of his at-bats. After a hard line-drive out in the first inning, Jeter delivered his final hit as part of a four-run third inning, then left for a pinch hitter and headed into retirement. 

 

"I'm ready for it now," Jeter said after the final out. "The plan was two at-bats. I was lucky I got a hit. I guess I hit the right part of the plate." 

 

Jeter's departure gave some import to an otherwise meaningless game between the longtime AL East rivals, who missed the playoffs together for the first time in 20 years. The last-place Red Sox – the defending World Series champions – are the first team in baseball history to go from worst to first and back to worst in three consecutive seasons.