Red Sox Reflect On Derek Jeter's Career
BOSTON (CBS) --For most of Derek Jeter's 20-year career in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were one of the best rivalries in all of sports.
The two sides met for their annual bouts in the regular season, and starting just before the turn of the century, they brought those hard-fought contests to the postseason. It was usually Jeter's Yankees getting the best of Boston, who was still trying to end an 80+ year title drought (until that magical October in 2004), but if there was one player on the other side of the field that all the Boston players could respect, it was New York's captain.
Now as Jeter gets ready to close out his career this weekend at Fenway Park, and with the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry cooling off a bit in recent years, the team that used to be his fiercest rivals have nothing but respect and admiration to pass along.
"He's unbelievable. He's a guy who has done it all in the game and has much respect from everybody," Boston slugger David Ortiz said of Jeter. "You learn from him just by watching him. He deserves all the credit he gets.
"D.J. is unique -- what he did through his career," Ortiz continued. "Playing the Yankees next year and not see Number-2 at shortstop is going to be something even the opposition will miss."
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"He sets the bar or set a standard for professionalism and performance. He's a champion in his own right," said Boston manager John Farrell.
"Every young player who got to witness him across the field or played on the same field with him hopefully took away that they got to look up to a guy who handled himself with so much class and dignity," said Boston's manager. "To be able to do that in a market like New York, and to handle himself with that kind of grace and competitiveness, he's an example for all to look up to."
Red Sox third base coach, Brian Butterfield, has known Jeter since the start of his career. Butterfield was Jeter's manager in the minor leagues in the early 1990s, and said there wasn't just one thing that stood out about the up-and-coming Jeter.
"The thing I remember most about Derek is the fact you saw a guy who worked hard and wanted to be a consistent and great player. He's certainly accomplished that," said Butterfield, who described the young Jeter as "extremely coachable" and "very energetic," but above everything else, respectful to everyone he came in contact with.
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While it wasn't a sure thing that Jeter would turn into a future Hall of Famer, Butterfield said he and the rest of his coaching staff saw a few signs.
"It's a very difficult thing to project a young kid out of high school, but I think we all saw athletic ability and a great aptitude to learn," he said. "We saw good hands and good feet. It's difficult to project, but anything he has done hasn't surprised us."
The Red Sox will honor Jeter with a ceremony on Saturday. With both Boston and New York out of the postseason race, it's unclear how much Jeter will play in the final three games of the season. He said following his walk-off win Thursday night at Yankee Stadium that he won't take the field at shortstop, and will only DH in the series.
Boston starter Clay Buchholz gets the start on Sunday afternoon, the final day of the regular season, and could be the final pitcher to face Jeter in his career. It's something Buccholz has put a lot of thought into over the last week, because even at the age of 40, Jeter is still not an easy out.
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"The biggest thing is he has really good plate discipline and plate coverage. He can hit the ball anywhere you throw it, basically," said Buchholz, saying that changing speed was your best bet against Jeter. "The swing he has, he's one of a kind. He always wants to hit that ball in that first-second base hole. He's had a lot of success doing that for a long time."
While Jeter has enjoyed a season-long swan song in every ballpark he's visited, Buccholz won't be grooving any pitches to No. 2 on Sunday.
"Being out on the mound I'm trying to get everyone out when they step in the box. I think he has enough hits off of me in his career," Buchholz said with a chuckle (Jeter has eight hits in 29 at-bats against Buchholz).
While he won't give him an easy one at the plate, Buchholz is taking great honor in the possibility of facing Jeter in his final game ever.
"He has been my favorite player forever. Growing up and watching him play, he was one of the guys you always try to watch, whether you play shortstop or just playing baseball in general," he said. "It's been pretty neat to be able to play against him and pitch against him. He's an incredible player whose career is almost done -- a Hall of Fame career."
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