Did Joba Chamberlain Have To Apologize To Derek Jeter? [BLOG]
By: Mike Sullivan
@mikesullivan
Last night in the 10th inning of the Tigers vs Yankees game, Joba Chamberlain plunked his former teammate, Derek Jeter on the left elbow with a 93mph fastball.
Immediately afterwards, Joba did something that is a very rare occurrence in the MLB. He apologized to Jeter.
Everyone could tell that Chamberlain genuinely felt bad about unintentionally hitting The Captain, and was very, very remorseful in his postgame interview. These were his comments:
"I've never felt worse in my life. Oh man, it was awful. I mean, obviously he's so good that you got to get in there a little bit to make sure he stays off the stuff and can't go to right field. But I've literally never ever felt worse in my life, personally and on a baseball field. I've known Derek for a long time and he means a lot to me. Like I said, I don't think I've ever felt worse as a person and as a baseball player than I did after that pitch."
A lot of people feel that there is no need for a pitcher to ever apologize for hitting a batter, especially to Jeter because of the history he has with faking "hit by pitches." It happens; it's the game of baseball. However, in this situation, I personally side with Joba. Here's why...
Derek Jeter is not only a legend who has just two months left in his illustrious, hall of fame career, but he's also a personal friend of Joba. They played together for seven years in New York. Jeter is a class act, always tipping his hat to the pitcher and acknowledging opposing managers. Simply put, #2 for the New York Yankees does things the right way. He's a man with a lot of class and dignity.
Joba tried to pitch Jeter inside, felt bad about accidentally hitting him, and decided to apologize to his friend. So what? I commend Chamberlain for doing so. He has every right to say sorry if he wants to. It was a class act in my opinion and shows the amount of admiration that players have for Jeter, or should I say, the #RE2PECT that they give him.
Do you think Joba Chamberlain should've apologized to Derek Jeter?