Derek Jeter Announces Retirement

Derek Jeter breaking the hits record at the old stadium, by chris.ptacek (I was at this game).

Well, this is an announcement that every Yankee fan dreaded. We knew it was coming relatively sooner rather than later, but we didn't expect that it would come quite this soon. Yesterday, February 12th, 2014, the beloved Yankee Captain Derek Jeter announced on his Facebook page that he was going to be retiring after the 2014 season.

I always thought that Derek Jeter would continue to play for as long as he could, that he would only ride off into the sunset when his presence was becoming a burden rather than a boon to the team. Perhaps he thinks that that point has been reached.

Let's face it, that ankle injury from the 2012 ALCS was a pretty serious one, and unfortunately Derek Jeter isn't in his 20's anymore. You can't shrug off these kinds of injuries so quickly when you're nearing forty, and some of them just stay with you. Perhaps Derek just doesn't see himself being the player he once was.

This is only my speculation, as he hasn't made mention of it, but I think it is a reasonable one.

And so like last year, we will have a circus. Hopefully the team will be in better condition than it was previously. Hopefully the Captain's farewell tour won't completely overshadow the rest of the team like Mo's did last year. Hopefully the team will make a run into October.

But these are only hopes at this point. The only certainty is that the circus will happen, and it will be a melancholy one. Currently I've got Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr's reunion performance of Hey Jude stuck in my head and it's appropriate for this occasion. It will be a sad song, but Jeter and the Yankees will hopefully make it better, combined with all the other happy memories we already have.

It's the end of an era. With Jeter's retirement, the last active link to the 90's Dynasty will end. But beyond that, Derek Jeter was the symbol of the Yankees for the past twenty years, even more so than Mariano Rivera was. He was also the symbol for Major League Baseball, not just in his popularity, but in a more profound way- the fact that in the steroids era, you didn't need to cheat to win.

It's also the end of an era in my life. The Captain was a link to my childhood. For as long as I can remember, Derek Jeter was the Yankees' shortstop, or hell, even further, he was the Yankees. It is going to be truly strange without him being there. Derek Jeter's retirement is a symbol of the definitive close of a chapter on my life's journey.

It's sad, but we were all truly privileged to see this man play for two decades and lead the team to a World Championship for a quarter of that time. We wouldn't be feeling this way if it was not.

In the meantime, Derek has one more year left, and we as Yankee fans need to enjoy it for all it's worth.