Derek Jeter's 3000th hit will mark unusual history in baseball – MLB News
Derek Jeters’ 3000th hit is going to create an unusual history, as once he has reached this milestone, a groundskeeper will bring in a shovel and scuttle onto the field to scoop five gallons of dirt from the batter’s box and short-stop’s pitch.
This will be a unique way of preserving a moment that is fundamentally important to the history of baseball as Jeter braces himself for the 3000th, becoming the 28th player in history to achieve this feat.
“It will be scooped in our presence,” said Cosmo Lubrano, an authenticator for Major League Baseball who would prove the dirt’s veracity if the 3,000th hit occurs at Yankee Stadium as he follows a bucket-carrying groundskeeper, probably Dan Cunningham. “We’re
there as a witness.”
Naturally, the excitement gets higher as the day the star hitter of the New York Yankees appears on the field to deliver what is impatiently awaited. There are already selling jackets, jerseys, T-shirts and flags inscribed with the name and the pictures
of this player.
However, the event of his hitting will be huge financially as well. The products like Majestic, Louisville Slugger, Fathead and New Era, Nike, and Rawlings have invested considerably large amounts of money on the player and the licensed products relating
to him.
“I’ve been here for 13 years,” said Howard Smith, the Senior Vice President for licensing of Major League Baseball. “And other than the home run race in 1998, this is the most significant business we’ve done for a hot market for a player.”
But the Yankees’ stalwart – whose calibre remains unquestionably superior to the contemporaries and oldies alike, intends to share the relatively greater sum of royalties with Players’ unions and MLB as a whole.
A short-stop and the captain of the Yankees, the name is a revered thing and the player an adored figure in the baseball. Now that he is entering his 16th full season, Jeter has not joined or even remotely stirred the speculations about joining
any other team.
While his 2010’s performance caused widespread questions as he was aging as well, he and his team finalised a deal worth 16-million-dollars a year which, to date remains the biggest paid to any short-stop.
Jeter was put on the disabled list on June 14 due to the strained right calf that not only was a painful decision for the team as a whole, but also became a cause of delay to his historical pursuit of his 3000th hit.
Interestingly, this was the first time that Jeter will remain in the disabled list for over 15 days, the last time this happened was in 2003.
Tags: