2024 National Pickup - Derek Jeter Signed Baseball

While it has taken me some time to finally clean out my stuff from the 2024 National, I am ashamed to say that I completely forgot to post this signed baseball that I picked up at the show.  I got this ball on the last day of the show, and probably overpaid a bit.  Still, I am glad to cross Derek Jeter off of my list.  I'm not a fan of how high his prices are; I've always contended that had Jeter played for someone like, say, the Royals, he would be held in the same regard as Paul Molitor.  A great player, a Hall of Famer, sure, but not the legend that folks make Jeter out to be.  That may be a little bit of my dislike for the Yankees shining through, but I feel like I am not alone in this sentiment.

Anyway, Jeter (b. 1974) played in the majors from 1995 to 2014 for the Yankees.  He was a part of the late 90s Yankee dynasty that won the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 World Series.  He also won the World Series in 2009.  He had 3,465 hits (leading the league twice), 260 home runs and a .310 career batting average (with 12 seasons of batting .300 or better; ok that's actually pretty dang good).  He never won an MVP award (the horror!), finishing second in 2006 and third in 1998 and 2009.  For those that care, he had a career 71.3 WAR, according to baseball-reference's metrics.

Jeter was a 14-time All Star (1998 to 2002, 2004, 2006 to 2012 and 2014) and five-time Silver Slugger Award winner (2006 to 2009 and 2012).  He was the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year and 2000 World Series MVP.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020, his first ballot, with 99.7% of the vote.  No, I don't have a vote, but even I, with my disdain for Jeter, am not dumb enough to say he didn't deserve to get in.  The argument against not voting for someone it a different discussion for a different day, but even I know he is definitely a Hall of Famer.  Duh.

Somewhere along the line, I messed up my HOF count, so in my estimation, Jeter is my 173rd Hall of Famer on a baseball.  That would also make it necessary to say that Dave Parker getting in last month puts him (Parker) as #174.  Hopefully I remember that, and can audit my numbers accordingly.