Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Wave And A Smile

Derek Jeter’s importance could be felt in the crowd gathered around the players’ gate last night. They waited in the cold for a glimpse after he came out of the game with a strained left quadriceps muscle.

Jeter was one of the last to leave the Stadium and board the bus, but he gave the crowd what they wanted: A wave and a smile.

“He’s not limping or anything,” someone said.

“It sounds like it’ll just be a few days,” someone else explained. “Now we can all sleep tonight.”

“Yeah,” everyone said.

The bus rumbled up Ruppert Place and down East 161st Street toward the airport. The team would be in Kansas City by dawn, but Jeter’s importance will never leave the Bronx.

“It’s hard to explain how much he means,” someone said. “The best I can do is: If he’s okay then we know everything else is gonna be okay, too.”

It takes a strong 25-man roster to win games and a strong 40-man roster to win pennants. Jeter can win over the Bronx with a wave and a smile.

There aren’t too many baseball players more important than that.

4 comments:

Henry said...

Derek Jeter is my most important Yankee and I saw Mickey Mantle play.

Olivia said...

I was nervous when I saw he was out of the game. I am glad he is going to be OK. We can survive a few days but I would not want to try more than that.

Ron W. said...

It is hard to describe how important Jeter is to us. That guy did a pretty good job though.

DMan said...

Jeter has been such a great representative for the Yankees, and for baseball in general.

He is respected across the league and he's what we all expect a true Yankee to be...

Hopefully the team's younger group of players learn a thing or two from Jeter.