 He's big the captain. That's right. So Derek Jeter will be a Hall of Famer today It will just become official as I said once in his final hit at Yankee Stadium Was there ever a doubt or did you have a doubt something like that? I can't even quote myself, but He's one of those guys I don't know if you look at it this way I saw almost every single game he played now certainly from 1996 until 2001 on the radio side I did every game and then once I joined yes I didn't do every single game, but I've seen mostly every game he's played and At no time were you watching him and going this guy's the greatest player I've ever seen But then when you take a step back From what his career was the sum of the parts you do realize he's one of the greatest players who ever lived There are only five guys in the history of baseball that have more hits than Derek Jeter five He ended with thirty four hundred and sixty five hits. He wasn't a home run hitter. You know how many home runs he had? 250 and This is the thing that jumps out at me the most his lifetime batting average 260 by the way his lifetime batting average was three ten and If this doesn't tell you all you need to know about Derek Jeter his lifetime batting average in the playoffs Which essentially was one year because he played a hundred and fifty eight postseason games in which is in stats, right? Amazing his his average in the playoffs was three oh nine so You see it even with great players When the games become bigger and the lights become brighter, you know what happens? The game speeds up for them. They're not the same guy Derek Jeter played postseason games the same way he played games in June You can see by his output three ten three oh nine. There was no staggering There was no big drop because he was in postseason games the guy seemed like he didn't have a pulse He wasn't the fastest runner he didn't have the greatest arm he didn't play with great power He hit most of his balls to right center field He won five gold gloves, but nobody would say he was the greatest defensive shortstop of all time But when you put it all together that pulporee of all the things he had and the one thing that analytics people don't Have the ability to calculate he had that little something something That made him one of the greatest of all time because there was no skill that he had done that you'd say That's the greatest thing I've ever seen he just didn't own that skill But when you put all of his skills together it turned him into one of the great winners and one of the greatest players who ever lived Yeah, you look at his war career wise was seventy two point four I'm off the top my head where that ranks, but I just have this feeling Michael that Analytics wouldn't do justice to Derek Jeter He was somebody you had to see every day and we got to see him every day And the nation got to see him in the playoffs because the Yankees went to the playoffs pretty much every year of his career And how many games they played on national television? It's the New York Yankees one of the most popular teams in North America So how could you not see him play but from an analytics standpoint would he compare to the great players of all time? He would but not defensively and defensively is where the knock would come because even before the analytics they talk about his lack of range his arm and All I know is he caught pretty much everything that was hit to him. Yep. All right He made all the plays. He made all the plays that were necessary. He was an amazing leader and Do I think he would have been appreciated if he played his entire career in Kansas City in Pittsburgh? Probably not Because you wouldn't see him every single day and he wouldn't play on the grand stage all the time He'd still have the hits and he would still have a lot of the accolades for the regular season But playing for the Yankees and being seen by everyone and having that stage in the postseason pretty much every single year To come through Including that rookie year where he wins a championship even though he played a little bit in 95 It was 96 where he came together and just never really what was the last time? What was his first taste of non playoffs after he started right? It was 96 and then boom They until they missed the playoffs in 2008 I mean, that's an that's an amazing run and he was he was pretty much a main Peace to that puzzle every single year. This is a stat. I love. I bet you don't know the stat. Peter go ahead Every single game that he ever played on end of the step except for the final game at Yankee stadium was he was in contention They were in contention that that's unbelievable now and that also brings up Don's point Now you could have off-broadway people that have the most beautiful voices and do these, you know Shows on the road, but until you play Broadway, you're not really going to get the recognition She had to play Broadway his entire career and now I 100% agree with that And speak of a hundred percent He's his his clutch play throughout his career even in both of the playoffs and then even in situations like we talked about His final game at Yankee stadium 3000 every moment it seems like that was big jeter delivered in that big moment But you also have to say that that being in contention stat that you put out there Also is telling of the team that he was a part of his entire career You know, obviously that I can't help I I'm spending I've been sitting here throughout the day Going back and forth comparing cal ripkin jr. And derek cheater and cal got 98.53 percent of of the eligible votes for the hall of fame Back in 2007 now growing up as a kid in the dc area in the 80s Cal ripkin was the biggest baseball star I ever I ever watched in my entire life And so naturally I compare those people and I feel like yankees fans are a really big jeter supporters Just blow right past cal ripkin and don't put them in the same conversation And I frankly think that's unreasonable I think the only stat you can really use to do that is championships and amount of time you played in the playoffs Besides that I think you're really splitting hairs in terms of statistically Jeter has a few hundred more hits cal has a couple hundred more home runs You can argue about who was better in the field. I think it's cal other people will say jeter. I'm sure Cal has of course the streak so but the reason I think about it is There's only one 100 percent or ever it's mariano revera But that that that busted the dam. It was it was a foolish stat I mean, you can't tell me that ken griffey jr. Didn't deserve to be Voted on by everybody tom siever the same deal But there there's a block of writers and we always talk about this They said well, he I don't want him to be the first 100 guy So they would hold they would hold their vote back assuming that the guy would get enough votes But if everybody came to the same conclusion at the same time, you'd be out the ballot You have to get five percent of the vote every time you're on the ballot Otherwise you're off the ballot. So if everybody played that cute game, you could I mean It was a stupid. It was a dumb thing. And I think the thing that changed it is that you had a seminal Candidate like mariano, but also over the years You can't vote in anonymity anymore for the most part They're gonna know that you're the jerk that didn't vote and you're gonna bet roasted and on social media get roasted And it would be a big big deal So no one wanted to be the guy who didn't vote for mariano rather than say he can't be a hundred percent guy I think the same thing is gonna hold for jeter. It really doesn't matter at the end of the day You can't have an argument at a bar somewhere or on a talk show somewhere Or on one of these debate shows And say Derek jeter and mariana reverer are the greatest players in the history of the game because they are the only two that got a hundred percent That doesn't hold water No, because you don't want tom siever for a long time had the highest percentile I don't think anybody would argue that tom siever was the greatest player of all time or that you know, can you still number three? Ever well, it might be the best picture of all time. Maybe maybe right, you know, but is he Johnson or Joe didn't make it in his first try. Well, that's why there were no 100 percenters because there were writers who said if Joe D didn't go on to the first ballot, I'm not gonna vote for this guy It's and the whole thing is is fundamentally flawed right because when when you don't get the votes It doesn't mean that those people don't believe that you're a hall of famer It's that they're prioritizing other people correct They are I hate the argument, you know, I got a different look at it. I've got a different perspective but what it comes down to you're only allowed 10 people and There's a log jam now on the ballot because the the pd guys are not elected. So they're not moving off the ballot So then it just clogs up who could who could be voted on That's one of the reasons a buster only gave up his vote He said I'm not going to take part in this. There has to be a different voting system You can't just limit it to 10. Hey, right and to your point Maybe there's more validity to saying I know cheaters getting in so I'm not going to vote for him and use my vote for somebody else Well, if everybody thought that way then cheater wouldn't get in right But you look vote you look you look at this list, right? And there are names That when you see how many how many people didn't vote for them, how can you not? you know Uh 13 people didn't vote for tony gwin to go to the hall of fame A joke 16 didn't vote for mike schmidt You know greg maddox 16 people were like nah. I'm good on greg maddox Right, it's impossible. These are these are people that everyone knows the hall of famer So I listen I 100 percent again. I keep saying 100 percent believe derek cheaters an icon a hall of famer And I really don't have a problem with him being 100 percent. It's just when I look at this list Should he be above these top names on the list? Is he better than mariano? Can you look at it that way? Tom see for no one right I think the rubicon has changed because of mariano I think you're going to see a lot of people that are sure fire hall of famers be 100 percent because it's just It's insulting and because now you can't do it behind the cloak of secrecy Now you're going to be completely exposed as a denozzle You're going to be the guy or the couple of people or the gal that didn't vote for this guy who was a sure fire hall of famer And you're going to be laughed at and with social media you're going to be ridiculed too But we can also appreciate on a day like this where we know he's going in Just how amazing the player was And in our generation guys who who compares to him from the fact that how much he won How successful he was on the field and also what controversy none never got in any kind of trouble Really? So when you compare him to the other great athletes, you've got laurence taylor Well laurence taylor comes with some baggage off the field, right? You look you think at elie manning, but elie manning is not the sure fire hall of famer that derrick jeeter is Carmelo anthony didn't play here long enough to be considered that hennrick lungquist great player hall of famer no championships So when you look at this generation michael over the last 25 years For the forever players in new york I mean cheaters the complete package. No, he really is and he guys I'm just being around him as much as I was for his entire 20 year career He had an innate ability to always do the right thing and there were opportunities for him to do the wrong thing. There was a I'm not gonna Not gonna bring up the guy's name. It's not fair to make him the bad guy in the story But there was a famous yankee that was having a story written about him by um New york magazine. Okay. All right, so he was walking through the yankee clubhouse And the writer was trailing him Taking notes of everything he said But unless you knew that this guy was being the subject of a story, you didn't know who the guy was He looked like any other media member So this famous former yankee Walks by cheaters Locker which was close to um right next to thurmond monson's Empty locker which they kept in the old yankee stadium and right before the trainers room And this famous ex yankee said something sexist and misogynistic That cheater could have easily played along and Yeah, or you just you know Added to what that yankee had said cheater just looked and didn't say and cheater was close with this person Didn't say word didn't know anybody was listening or taking notes The story's written it says derrick cheater would not join in on you know, whatever It would have been so easy, right? So I was just curious and I said I walked up to him at one the story came out in the magazine. I said Did you know that the writer was Taking notes. He goes. I didn't even know there was a story being written. I said Then how did you know not to join in he goes not the right thing to do He says just not the right thing to do how many people even good people Would I mean I mean just for an instance not a political statement Even billy bush really Agreed with what the presidential candidate was saying at the time, but you get caught up You're trying to be you're trying to be after room It's a lot and this is a locker room He didn't say it and there's so many times where he could have made the wrong move But every fork in the road that he came to he it was uncanny was almost eerie. He took the right turn He never did the wrong thing He doesn't have a stain playing in new york being single Dating hundreds of women the most beautiful women in the world has anybody ever said anything bad about him Think about it in this day and age and toward the end of his career twitter was heating up social media was heating up Never never caught in the the crosshair really the only thing you could think of I think there was one article Is something about a gift basket and then the gift basket thing which is which is nothing The worst thing nothing the worst thing that they could come up with about Derek cheaters that when he Slept with someone he sent them a gift basket afterwards I don't even know if you send that thing. We just had the door We don't even we don't even know if that was true and we don't know if it is true We don't know it's true, but even so the worst thing is that he was like really polite It's right. Not not walking into an elevator with somebody It's just it's amazing and then you had that the problem is that that's the way everybody's been judged moving forward So then Alex Rodriguez comes here and then every misstep seemed to be well That's opposite of what Derek cheater would do. I mean that's a thing. What would what would Derek do? What would Derek do? How do you handle the biggest spotlight in the world a new york yankee while they're winning? And not one misstep not one misspeak. I had um a young New york athlete asked me this a couple of years ago And uh, we were at an event and he said I gotta I gotta ask you something I said what he goes You were on jeter. How did he do it? He goes, how did he do it? He said, I mean there are cameras everywhere now. How did he do it? I said he just I don't know how he did it. He just did it So you put that guy Who was raised the right way And the fact that he's a transcendent talent and he does it on the biggest stage It's just official today. I mean he's been a hall of famer. I mean he's hired himself like a famous forever Today it becomes official You know it and and I thought that needed to get brought up Michael because this is a town that You know choose people like that up and spit them out And don't you think that people were out to get them too? Don't you think that people would love to see and make a mistake and also michael I think that you had a lot of people within the baseball community that were jealous of him and didn't like him for All the reasons we just stated that's why whenever they would come out sports illustrated would ask Ball players the five most overrated players jeter would always be on the list And I always thought that it kind of came from a place of jealousy. They wish they could be yankees They wish they could stay out of trouble. They wish they can get the attention now Did he get a lot more attention because he was in new york? I do believe that he was in the right place at the right time with the right team But the fact that he just ended up coming out the other side As clean as a whistle as he went in That's an accomplishment in itself. It's amazing and and I don't think it's I told the story earlier for something that's going to be on the uh, the hot stove show They're gonna have a special hall of fame show on on yes after our show at 6 30 and um The first time I ever met darrett was in 1992. He was drafted in 1992 six pick of the draft and um The yankees at that time would make their first round draft pick available to the radio crew And the television crew So they brought him up to the radio crew again. It was 92 was my first year on radio And they gave me and john sterling derrick for half an a And kind of a portent of things to come Didn't say much it was polite it was very um, uh You know engaging but you know, he wasn't telling you his life story And I looked and I said well, he's really skinny tall and skinny like a tall drink of water And I didn't know what to make of him and he looked so young too. So the next day I go down to the manager's office And buck showalter is the manager at that point. I said, well, what do you think of the kid they drafted? He goes, I don't know what type of player he's gonna be He said all the scouting reports, you know rave about him He said, but I will tell you this If he plays for the yankees for 20 years He will never embarrass the new york yankee organization He said, how could you tell that he goes? I met his parents He said you meet the parents of a player. You can know exactly what that guy's gonna be He said upstanding people's fathers a doctor and mother's very involved With with every aspect of his life the sister is an athlete as well. He goes. He will never embarrass the yankees now one other thing dick groach Was the scout who um scouted derrick in michigan And the yankees were hesitant to pick him because everybody thought he was going to go to the university of michigan He had a scholarship to go to the university of michigan and george steimer at the time did not like Taking high school players because they were further away from being in the big leagues and so there was this big meeting and They they go to dick groach the scout and they they go well I mean, there's a rumor that he's not he's going to go to university of michigan and dick groach said And this is legend now. He goes He's not going to michigan He's going to cooperstown So today it becomes official right around 6 15 during enn one eight hundred nine one nine three