Derek Jeter closed out his glorious career at Yankee Stadium in epic fashion, knocking in the game-winning run with a walk-off single as New York slipped past the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Thursday.
Jeter said so long to the delirious Bronx faithful as the Yankees’ iconic captain winds down his two decades long Major League Baseball career with a storybook ending in his final game at home.
“It has been a fun 20 years,” the 40-year-old Jeter said.
Jeter, who also barely missed a home run with a RBI double off the wall in his first plate appearance, looked calm on the outside but admitted he was a bundle of nerves in front of a sold out crowd of 48,613.
“I don’t know what just happened,” the 14-time all-star said. “For the first time in my career I was saying please don’t hit it to me. I thought I was going to lose it, and then I had to get ready to hit.”
With the scored tied 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, the future Hall-of-Famer stepped up with a runner on second base and blasted an opposite field single through the gap between first and second base.
Yankees’ Antoan Richardson then slid into home safely to beat the throw from Nick Markakis for the winning run, which touched off a wild celebration in the infield around Jeter.
“This was a weird game,” the shortstop said. “I am in tears right now, just a run of emotions.
“The first inning I was saying don’t hit me a ground ball. I was extremely nervous and uncomfortable. But it all worked out.”
Indeed it did. The only down side is that Jeter’s magical finish came one day after the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention by the Orioles.
The Yankees now play the Red Sox in a season-ending three-game series beginning Friday in Boston, where Jeter said he would finish out his playing career.
Jeter plans to step aside as the team’s shortstop and bat as a designated hitter against Boston.
“Yes I will play in some capacity. This is my last game at shortstop. Out of respect to the Boston fans I will play,” he said.
Jeter said the last few weeks of his farewell tour have been mentally taxing.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job of controlling my emotions throughout the course of my career. I’ve tried to hide them. Today I wasn’t able to do it.
“It was odd. To be honest the last few weeks got tougher and tougher. It was very difficult but always worth while.”
– ‘I was all messed up’ –
Jeter’s final game at Yankee Stadium couldn’t have begun any worse. Just eight pitches in, New York starter Hiroki Kuroda gave up two home runs. But by the time the first inning ended, the crowd was back on their feet chanting Jeter’s name.
That set the stage for the first of a series of magical moments from Jeter, who won four World Series in his first five seasons with the Yankees.
Even an equipment malfunction in his first at-bat couldn’t stop him from getting the RBI double off the wall in left centre field to drive in teammate Brett Gardner for New York’s first run. Jeter then scored when the next hitter, Brian McCann, smashed a grounder that Orioles second baseman Kelly Johnson couldn’t handle, tying the game.
“I don’t know how I played this game,” he said. “When I went up for my first bat I forgot my elbow pad. I was all messed up.”
Forgotten amid all the jaw-dropping heroics from Jeter was the reality that the Yankees won’t be going to the post-season for the second consecutive year.
Mother Nature also backed off on a threat to spoil Jeter’s memorable night as the rain that weather forecasters had predicted for Thursday night stayed just off to the east of New York’s Bronx borough.