Derek Jeter's WAR rank among SS by year and career. Jeter showed up for work.

Among shortstops he had the most Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in his first full season: 1996.  And again in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003; second in 1997, sixth in 1999 when he played only 129 games.  Derek Jeter?  No, Alex Rodriguez.  In 1997 Nomar Garciaparra beat Rodriguez, who played only 141 games.  Jeter led in 1999, his career year.

Jeter's SS WAR rank from 1996 through 2003: 6,4,2,1,4,3,7,8.  In 2014 Jeter was ranked number 34, partly due to his playing less.  One of the two things that I do not like about WAR is that it is a total; the other is the fielding component, which continues to evolve.

Rodriguez led in batting average (BA) in 1996 and runs and doubles and total bases (TB).  In his remaining SS years Rodriguez led in:
1998: plate appearances (PA), at bats (AB), hits
2001: runs, home runs (HR), TB
2002: HR, RBI, TB
2003: runs, HR, slugging average (SLG), MVP.

Garciaparra became the first right handed batter since Joe DiMaggio to lead in BA in consecutive seasons.  He led in:
1997: AB, hits, 3B
1999: BA
2000: BA, IBB
2002: 2B

Jeter led in:
1997: PA
1998: runs
1999: PA, hits
Later years:
2005: PA
2010: PA
2012: PA, AB, hits.

They were the big three shortstops but the pecking order was clearly: Rodriguez, Garciaparra, Jeter.  In 2004 Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees and agreed to switch to third base as part of it.  Alex Rodriguez was well on his way to becoming the greatest shortstop of all time, replacing Honus Wagner, but he agreed to move so that Derek Jeter could continue to play shortstop for the New York Yankees.  On Thursday Jeter played his final game in the field, all at shortstop.  Rodriguez won two more MVP awards playing third for the Yankees.

But Jeter is the best shortstop of his generation, the only one from 1996 through 2014 with WAR above 50: 72.  But Jeter led in WAR in only that one career season, 1999.  Jeter was the best shortstop of his generation because he showed up for work ... and was the only one to stay at shortstop all that time.  Jeter was good, but not great, for 17 seasons.  Other than Rodriguez, the only other players to lead shortstops in WAR in multiple seasons from 1996-2014 were:
Hanley Ramirez: 2008, 2009
Troy Tulowitzki: 2007, 2010, 2011.

Among shortstops since 1901, Jeter's 1999 career year of 8 WAR ranks number 30:

Played 50% of games at SS, (requiring WAR_bat>=2), sorted by greatest WAR

Rk	Player	WAR/pos	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Cal Ripken	11.5	1991	30	BAL	AL	162	717	650	99	210	46	5	34	114	53	15	46	5	0	9	19	6	1	.323	.374	.566	.940	*6
2	Honus Wagner	11.5	1908	34	PIT	NL	151	641	568	100	201	39	19	10	109	54		22	5	14			53		.354	.415	.542	.957	*6
3	Robin Yount	10.5	1982	26	MIL	AL	156	704	635	129	210	46	12	29	114	54	2	63	1	4	10	19	14	3	.331	.379	.578	.957	*6/HD
4	Alex Rodriguez	10.4	2000	24	SEA	AL	148	672	554	134	175	34	2	41	132	100	5	121	7	0	11	10	15	4	.316	.420	.606	1.026	*6
5	Lou Boudreau	10.4	1948	30	CLE	AL	152	676	560	116	199	34	6	18	106	98		9	2	16		15	3	2	.355	.453	.534	.987	*6/H2
6	Ernie Banks	10.2	1959	28	CHC	NL	155	671	589	97	179	25	6	45	143	64	20	72	7	2	9	18	2	4	.304	.374	.596	.970	*6/H
7	Honus Wagner	10.1	1905	31	PIT	NL	147	616	548	114	199	32	14	6	101	54		53	7	7			57		.363	.427	.505	.932	*6/7
8	Cal Ripken	10.0	1984	23	BAL	AL	162	716	641	103	195	37	7	27	86	71	1	89	2	0	2	16	2	1	.304	.374	.510	.884	*6
9	Rico Petrocelli	10.0	1969	26	BOS	AL	154	643	535	92	159	32	2	40	97	98	13	68	1	3	6	12	3	5	.297	.403	.589	.992	*6/5
10	Rogers Hornsby	9.9	1917	21	STL	NL	145	588	523	86	171	24	17	8	66	45		34	4	17			17		.327	.385	.484	.868	*6/H
11	Alex Rodriguez	9.4	1996	20	SEA	AL	146	677	601	141	215	54	1	36	123	59	1	104	4	6	7	15	15	4	.358	.414	.631	1.045	*6/H
12	Ernie Banks	9.4	1958	27	CHC	NL	154	682	617	119	193	23	11	47	129	52	12	87	4	1	8	14	4	4	.313	.366	.614	.980	*6
13	Terry Turner	9.4	1906	25	CLE	AL	147	643	584	85	170	27	7	2	62	35		43	6	18			27		.291	.338	.372	.709	*6
14	Honus Wagner	9.3	1906	32	PIT	NL	142	590	516	103	175	38	9	2	71	58		31	10	6			53		.339	.416	.459	.875	*6/95
15	Arky Vaughan	9.2	1935	23	PIT	NL	137	609	499	108	192	34	10	19	99	97		18	7	7		5	4		.385	.491	.607	1.098	*6
16	Honus Wagner	9.2	1909	35	PIT	NL	137	591	495	92	168	39	10	5	100	66		24	3	27			35		.339	.420	.489	.909	*6/7
17	Honus Wagner	8.9	1907	33	PIT	NL	142	580	515	98	180	38	14	6	82	46		40	5	14			61		.350	.408	.513	.921	*6/3
18	Alex Rodriguez	8.8	2002	26	TEX	AL	162	725	624	125	187	27	2	57	142	87	12	122	10	0	4	14	9	4	.300	.392	.623	1.015	*6/H
19	Arky Vaughan	8.6	1938	26	PIT	NL	148	650	541	88	174	35	5	7	68	104		21	2	3		8	14		.322	.433	.444	.876	*6/H
20	Alex Rodriguez	8.5	1998	22	SEA	AL	161	748	686	123	213	35	5	42	124	45	0	121	10	3	4	12	46	13	.310	.360	.560	.919	*6/D
21	Alex Rodriguez	8.4	2003	27	TEX	AL	161	715	607	124	181	30	6	47	118	87	10	126	15	0	6	16	17	3	.298	.396	.600	.995	*6/HD
22	Joe Cronin	8.4	1930	23	WSH	AL	154	686	587	127	203	41	9	13	126	72		36	5	22			17	10	.346	.422	.513	.934	*6
23	Alex Rodriguez	8.3	2001	25	TEX	AL	162	732	632	133	201	34	1	52	135	75	6	131	16	0	9	17	18	3	.318	.399	.622	1.021	*6/D
24	John Valentin	8.3	1995	28	BOS	AL	135	621	520	108	155	37	2	27	102	81	2	67	10	4	6	7	20	5	.298	.399	.533	.931	*6/H
25	Honus Wagner	8.3	1904	30	PIT	NL	132	558	490	97	171	44	14	4	75	59		44	4	5			53		.349	.423	.520	.944	*6/7384
Rk	Player	WAR/pos	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
26	Alan Trammell	8.2	1987	29	DET	AL	151	668	597	109	205	34	3	28	105	60	8	47	3	2	6	11	21	2	.343	.402	.551	.953	*6/H
27	Cal Ripken	8.2	1983	22	BAL	AL	162	726	663	121	211	47	2	27	102	58	0	97	0	0	5	24	0	4	.318	.371	.517	.888	*6
28	Ernie Banks	8.2	1955	24	CHC	NL	154	646	596	98	176	29	9	44	117	45	6	72	2	0	3	16	9	3	.295	.345	.596	.941	*6
29	Honus Wagner	8.1	1912	38	PIT	NL	145	634	558	91	181	35	20	7	102	59		38	6	11			26		.324	.395	.496	.891	*6
30	Derek Jeter	8.0	1999	25	NYY	AL	158	739	627	134	219	37	9	24	102	91	5	116	12	3	6	12	19	8	.349	.438	.552	.989	*6

But Rodriguez, Banks and Yount all drop out of the discussion because they changed positions to help their teams.  Let's look at career WAR of at least 50:

Rk	Player	WAR/pos	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos	Tm
1	Honus Wagner	113.8	1901	1917	27-43	2299	9640	8507	1414	2766	506	210	78	1375	836		648	99	198			601	26	.325	.392	.462	.853	*63/9574H81	PIT
2	Cal Ripken	95.5	1981	2001	20-40	3001	12883	11551	1647	3184	603	44	431	1695	1129	107	1305	66	10	127	350	36	39	.276	.340	.447	.788	*65/DH	BAL
3	Robin Yount	77.0	1974	1993	18-37	2856	12249	11008	1632	3142	583	126	251	1406	966	95	1350	48	104	123	217	271	105	.285	.342	.430	.772	*68D/7H3	MIL
4	Ozzie Smith	76.5	1978	1996	23-41	2573	10778	9396	1257	2460	402	69	28	793	1072	79	589	33	214	63	167	580	148	.262	.337	.328	.666	*6/H	SDP-STL
5	Luke Appling	74.5	1930	1950	23-43	2422	10254	8856	1319	2749	440	102	45	1116	1302		528	11	74		129	179	108	.310	.399	.398	.798	*6/5H43	CHW
6	Arky Vaughan	72.9	1932	1948	20-36	1817	7722	6622	1173	2103	356	128	96	926	937		276	46	116		70	118		.318	.406	.453	.859	*65/H74	PIT-BRO
7	Derek Jeter	71.7	1995	2014	21-40	2745	12598	11191	1923	3463	544	66	260	1310	1082	39	1839	170	97	58	287	358	97	.309	.377	.440	.817	*6/DH	NYY
8	Alan Trammell	70.4	1977	1996	19-38	2293	9376	8288	1231	2365	412	55	185	1003	850	48	874	37	124	76	156	236	109	.285	.352	.415	.767	*6/HD5478	DET
9	Barry Larkin	70.2	1986	2004	22-40	2180	9057	7937	1329	2340	441	76	198	960	939	66	817	55	59	67	178	379	77	.295	.371	.444	.815	*6H/4D	CIN
10	Joe Cronin	66.4	1926	1945	19-38	2124	8840	7579	1233	2285	515	118	170	1424	1059		700	34	166		57	87	71	.301	.390	.468	.857	*6H/5347	PIT-WSH-BOS
11	Pee Wee Reese	66.3	1940	1958	21-39	2166	9470	8058	1338	2170	330	80	126	885	1210	3	890	26	157	19	176	232	45	.269	.366	.377	.743	*65/H	BRO-LAD
12	Lou Boudreau	63.0	1938	1952	20-34	1646	7024	6029	861	1779	385	66	68	789	796		309	34	164		155	51	50	.295	.380	.415	.795	*6/5H324	CLE-BOS
13	Luis Aparicio	55.8	1956	1973	22-39	2601	11230	10230	1335	2677	394	92	83	791	736	22	742	27	161	76	184	506	136	.262	.311	.343	.653	*6/H	CHW-BAL-BOS
14	Bobby Wallace	55.2	1901	1918	27-44	1743	6902	6187	681	1618	271	80	10	704	552		440	34	129			154	10	.262	.325	.336	.661	*6/54H91	STL-SLB
15	Joe Sewell	53.7	1920	1933	21-34	1903	8333	7132	1141	2226	436	68	49	1054	842		114	80	275			74	72	.312	.391	.413	.804	*65/H4	CLE-NYY
16	Joe Tinker	53.2	1902	1916	21-35	1806	7153	6441	774	1690	263	114	31	783	416		526	10	285			336	12	.262	.308	.353	.661	*6/54H9	CHC-CIN-CHI
17	Bert Campaneris	53.1	1964	1983	22-41	2328	9625	8684	1181	2249	313	86	79	646	618	15	1142	64	199	60	106	649	199	.259	.311	.342	.653	*6/H574D83921	KCA-OAK-TEX-CAL-NYY

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/27/2014.

Floyd "Arky" Vaughan, Pittsburgh Pirates
1933 Goudey baseball card
via Wikimedia Commons

Jeter is number 7, which is very good.  But for some perspective, Jeter is behind Arky Vaughan who had 7,722 PA to Jeter's 12,598 and counting.  Even Yount shows up in third place.  Rodriguez has now played fewer than half his games at short; his WAR is 116 even being suspended the entire 2014 season for using performance enhancing drugs (PED).  Wagner would have more WAR but only 9,640 of his 10,439 PA are covered.

Jeter's regular season greatness is his longevity, a result of hard work.  Jeter showed up for work.

Derek Jeter ... overrated. Derek Jeter ... overrated. Derek Jeter ... overrated.  Friday, September 12, 2014