George C. Marshall: Army general, statesman, Nobel Peace Prize award
Chipper Jones: baseball player
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| General George C. Marshall official military photo 1946 via Wiki Commons |
Derek Jeter could have been the good team player he had been portrayed and simply faded away as General Douglas McArthur once famously claimed to do. Instead, Jeter announced before the season that 2014 would be his last season. He gave the lame reason that he did not want to be a distraction. He could simply have stated that he would not discuss his plans publicly and informed the Yankees of his intent to retire so that the team could plan for his replacement. His announcement and subsequent activity strongly suggest that Jeter wanted to maintain his modest image but to receive at least as much attention as that accorded to his long tome teammate Mariano Rivera who engaged in a farewell tour in 2013 that was too much by half.
Jeter succumbed to celebrity attention that exceeded even what he had experienced as a key member of five championship teams. This culminated with personal Derek Jeter flags replacing the 30 team flags atop Yankee Stadium and personal Derek Jeter patches on the caps and home shirts of all Yankee players. This screamed of self over team but Jeter by then was deaf to all but the applause.
Over 20 years the Yankees paid Derek Jeter $265 million dollars for the regular season. Despite that Jeter has been doing everything possible to make even more money by capitalizing on his retirement.
Steiner Sports DEREK JETER COLLECTION:
Signed jerseys sorted by price:
http://www.steinersports.com/baseball/jeter-jerseys/index.html#price_sort=price+desc::q_category_id=11562::cp=1::ip=24
$25,000 down to $1,999.99
Actually seeing the prices is even more obscene than just reading about them. Yeah, I know capitalism and nobody is forced to buy. But we don't use that as an excuse for other greedy people.
What the heck? What's the lesson for young people, particularly the ones Jeter is supposedly trying to help with his foundation? Derek, you've lost your way.
The selling of Derek Jeter. Thursday, September 4, 2014
More on the selling of Derek Jeter. Sunday, September 7, 2014
Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation: who profits? Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Oh, and Chipper Jones. He just faded away, like the old ballplayer he was.
Why didn't Chipper Jones get a farewell tour? Saturday, September 20, 2014
WAR (Wins Above Replacement) Position Players:
Jones 85 (31)
Jeter 71.8 (58) ...
Jones retired one year before the back to back farewell tours for Yankees Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. Maybe no one thought about it. Maybe Jones didn't want it. Maybe he got a mini version that we don't even recall.
I'm a Yankee fan but half way through Rivera's 2013 farewell tour I thought it was way overblown and inappropriate...
I had hoped that this would not be repeated but Jeter announced his retirement before the 2014 regular season and allowed the Yankees and opposing teams to exceed the silliness of what was done for Rivera. I'm guessing that some players are resentful, including teammates, but so far none have had the nerve to speak up. That copyrighted Jeter patch that all Yankee players have been wearing ... is probably especially annoying.
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