Yankee history made as Jeter ties hits record

Like millions of other fans, I watched baseball history unfold  during last night’s  Yankee game. Derek Jeter, the team captain, tied a franchise record for most hits with 2,721. The 72 year old record was held by another famous Yankee captain, Lou Gehrig***. Gehrig is known as the ‘Iron Horse’ and the ‘Pride of the Yankees’.  He played alongside Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio toward the end of his career. There is a great movie about him with Gary Cooper in the lead role.

A brief  game recap describes how he got those three hits. As luck would have it, on the same day last year in the old stadium, Jeter tied Babe Ruth for hits as a Yankee. You don’t have to be a Yankee fan to know about the chase for the hits record. Jeter has been closing on this record for a while.

26 time World Champions

Derek was in a bit of a hitting slump, going 0-12 in the last few games.  Last night, he started with a bunt single to get his 1st hit. He had two more hits in the game, the last one to tie the record at 2721.  Currently tied with Gehrig, he passed Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth for most hits by a Yankee. He is certainly a future member of the baseball Hall of Fame. As one of the most respected players in the game, Cap’n Jeter is in some very famous company these days.

Making baseball history and tying the record, I’m sure Jeter will remember this game for a long time.  It is a definite certainty that Derek will surpass this record.  From now on, each additional hit is a record high for a Yankee. A benchmark for future players to measure themselves against. I salute the Yankee captain and hope he holds this record for a long time.  Congratulations Derek!

***Gehrig’s life was shortended by Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is commonly referrd to as ‘Lou Gehrig’s disease’ .  Learn about the walk to defeat ALS from the ALS association. More on Gehring available here on the NYT site.