Derek Jeter’s All-Star finale had everything, including controversy.
And perhaps a pitcher who cut El Capitan some slack.
During the tilt, Fox’s Ken Rosenthal reported — well after it was blowing up on Twitter — that Cardinals hurler Adam Wainwright said he threw Jeter a couple of first-inning pitches “he could handle.” Jeter, leading off for the AL, lined one into the right field corner for a double.
Wainwright’s comments to reporters first started making the rounds on social media around the fourth inning, leading him to an explanatory in-game interview with Erin Andrews, who asked him to explain his comments.
The pitcher indicated he’s just a misunderstood comedian.
“Sometimes my humor gets taken the wrong way,” Wainwright said. “I feel terrible about this. If anyone is taking any credit away from what Derek Jeter has done today or off me it was mis-said. I hope people know I’m not intentionally giving up hits. . . . I’m very competitive.”
Andrews: “Don’t you love social media?”
“No,” Wainwright said, “I don’t love social media.”
The Foxies do, if it helped boost their All-Star ratings. . . .
It was our mistake getting caught up in the hype leading up to Derek Jeter’s 14th and final All-Star Game appearance Tuesday night in Minneapolis. Through his 20 years with the Yankees, just about everything had been said about the way Jeter plays the game and lives his life under an unforgiving spotlight.
So, hours before the first pitch, the talk was reduced to how he would handle the moment and what his final All-Star exit would be. Caught between the end of NBA free agency and the opening of NFL training camps, Jeter speculation would have to do inside the Valley of the Stupid and other media precincts.
There were predictions Jeter, even on such an occasion, would stay true to his Captain Ice persona. No emotion would be revealed. The result could be Fox, and its voices Joe Buck, Tom Verducci and Harold Reynolds, to do more talking and reminiscing in an attempt to put a human touch to the proceedings.
This never happened. It never became necessary. For as Reynolds said, in the line of the night while describing Jeter: “Some guys can just stop the moment and ask it to come to them.” He said this in the bottom of the third inning, moments before Jeter would get his second hit of the evening.
Long before the blooper to right, Jeter gave every indication that this would be a different kind of night for him, as he used Buck as his straight man in the pregame show opening. Buck walked into the AL clubhouse. He introduced a couple of players before getting to Jeter who was sitting next to a familiar face. “Over here in the corner by his former teammate Robinson Cano you got the captain, Derek Jeter,” Buck said. “This is his 14th . . .”
Jeter, with a dismissive wave of the hand in Buck’s direction, said: “Let’s go, we’ve got a game to play, bro.” That would be the only shticky moment of the night, but not the only uncharacteristic moment for Jeter.
For a man who has kept his clubhouse interaction with teammates private, it was a highlight seeing him address the AL All-Stars in the clubhouse. His words revealed where his head is at with the final (baseball) curtain in sight. “Remember every time you put your uniform on because trust me,” Jeter said, “it goes quickly.”
This introspective highlight, captured by Fox, was a one-of-a-kind thing. It was as if Jeter wanted to chronicle the moment, have a video souvenir to remember it by. For the rest of the evening was typical Jeter. When Jeter was introduced, there was a wave of the cap but no smile. And when Broadway’s Idina Menzel sang Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young,” Fox resisted the temptation of having its camera linger on Jeter.
Why emphasize the obvious?
As it turned out, Jeter would soon make that point himself. Leading off the first, Andrew McCutchen scorched a shot toward the middle that a diving Jeter snagged. McCutchen barely beat the throw.
“We’re about to see our first replay challenge in All-Star history,” Reynolds said.
That didn’t happen, but Fox’s replay showed Jeter’s throw barely beat McCutchen.
Fox again took the natural approach as Jeter walked to the plate, accompanied by the sounds of the late Bob Sheppard, for his first at-bat. Buck, the master of silence, and his mates did not say a word.
The NL players, including pitcher Wainwright, who dropped his glove on the mound, began applauding Jeter. Now, the only sound was the crowd chanting “Derek Jeter . . . Derek Jeter . . .” The chant died down, leaving one distinct voice chanting: “Over . . . rated . . . Over. . . rated.”
Jeter answered by lining a double into the right-field corner.
The moment was more than symbolic. In Twilight Time, Jeter had transported his Bronx magic to the Midwest. Buck was all over it. “If he (Jeter) is going to go out on the big stage tonight, who knows where the Yankees will end up? This is exactly what we’ve seen from Derek for 20 years,” Buck said.
A fitting tribute from a voice who has called all of Jeter’s memorable October moments.
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