Standing For Jeter

The moment Derek Jeter's Nike cleats touch the first step in the visitor's dugout as he starts his walk to homeplate at Fenway Park to open the potentially epic end-of-season Yankees-Red Sox series, the boos will begin. From every corner of the ballpark, from the Monster seats to the bleachers, from Pesky's Pole to the roof deck, Red Sox fans will let fly a cornucopia of vitriol-fueled profanity. Children, gloves firmly planted on their little hands, will be exposed to new and puzzling words and phrases that will have them sitting up late at night, pondering whether some of the fans' suggestions for Jeter are actually physiologically possible. Adults who spend their days as the people we trust with our money, public safety and heart transplants will be pushed to the brink of insanity at the mere sight of Jeter casually strolling towards the batter's box.

Without question, Jeter is Red Sox public enemy number one. He is single-handedly responsible for ushering in Boston's golden age of obscene t-shirts. He embodies everything Red Sox fans hate about the New York Yankees- too smooth, too rich, too successful, too confident, and too lucky.

But fast forward to 2013. Jeter is now playing third base for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez having long ago made the switch back to shortstop. At 39, Jeter is clearly at the tail-end of his career and has made it known that his 18th season as a Yankee will be his last. It's late September at Fenway. The Red Sox powered by Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Craig Hansen, Hanley Ramirez and a 37-year old David Ortiz clinched the American League East several weeks earlier. The late-season series against New York is essentially meaningless. You're a Red Sox fan- do you give Derek Jeter, playing his final game at Fenway, a standing ovation?

Like many questions of sport, this one was born in a bar, during a discussion between a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan, but the argument could have just as easily been between two Sox fans. Talk about Derek Jeter in a Boston bar and you are likely to find a multitude of differing attitudes. In a city that relishes disagreement, Jeter is a lighting rod for dissension. Some loathe him, others love him. Some recognize his ability but despise him because of his uniform. Some scoff at the mention of Jeter's name as a future Hall of Famer. Others whisper that he is exactly the type of player the Red Sox should try to get.

The reasons for not giving Jeter a standing ovation are manifold. For one, Jeter is the face, heart and soul of the Yankees' empire. He may be the most overhyped baseball player in history. His ordinary defensive plays are made divine by the New York-based media and his extraordinary plays are trumpeted as human achievements on par with the construction of the Pyramids and the moon landings. His SportsCenter-showcased homeruns into Yankee Stadium's Williamsportesque right field help hide fact that he rarely hits for power on the road. Television announcers fawn over Jeter with such unreserved passion that some parents are forced to tell their younger children to leave the room.

He has dated Mariah Carey, a certifiable lunatic, and Jordana Brewster, a certifiable hottie. From the months of April to October, Jeter is the featured player in Fox's depression-inducing baseball promos. And, if God forbid the Yankees are part of the playoffs, the earth's rotation literally changes as the planet's entire press corps from the New York Times to the Southwestern Sioux Fall Junior High School Parents' Newsletter flocks to Yankee Stadium to bask in Jeter's glow.

Certainly, unless he simultaneously cures cancer and the Ebola virus while also committing an ALCS series-clinching error, it isn't likely that Jeter is going to hear cheers at Fenway anytime soon.

But even the most cold-hearted of Red Sox fans recognize that Jeter, though overvalued by most baseball announcers and everyday fans, actually does have a few redeeming qualities as a player.

It is very hard to question Jeter's desire or hustle. In a town where the occasions of Manny Ramirez not running out ground balls are broadcast over the Emergency Broadcast System, Jeter's hustle is surely appreciated. Red Sox fans were not as smitten with Jeter's 2004 Oscar-worthy stumble into the stands of Yankees Stadium as the rest of America but our (and Red Sox management's) disgust with the parallel lack of desire on the part of Nomar Garciaparra helped pushed the Sox shortstop out of town.

He is an excellent base runner and makes the Red Sox look like a beer league softball team by comparison. Jeter often performs his best on the game's biggest stages. He has hit game-winning World Series home runs and made plays in the field that kept the Yankees in contention. In many ways, he is a classic Boston athlete- gritty, hard-working, tough, stand-up- long ago perverted by the insatiable New York media.

But he is a Yankee which for some Red Sox fans is the beginning and end of the story. No standing ovation at Fenway, not now, not ever. Which is, in a word, sad.

Crowds at Fenway are notoriously and justifiably tough on visiting (and sometimes the home) team. Here in the cradle of America's history, we are all amateur historians when it comes to unearthing some piece of personal minutiae that may be suitable for a well-placed verbal jab at an opponent. And on the occasions when a player does something so moronic, idiotic or illegal that it becomes national news, the fans at Fenway are at their merciless best.

But conversely, when players do something so impressive, lasting and monumental that it becomes part of the fabric of the game, fans at Fenway take notice, regardless of what uniform the player is wearing.

Jeter may not be as good a player as some people want to believe but he is a player that has earned the right to be celebrated by the fans at Fenway. Think of one instance in which Jeter embarrassed himself or his team? Think of one instance in which Jeter did something to personally attack the Red Sox, beyond simply playing the game hard? It's hard to think of any instances in which Jeter didn't earn every bit of animosity from Red Sox fans in exactly the right way, which is why it makes so much sense to stand up and show him respect when he finally decides to call it a career.

Jamie Chisholm