And so Jeter is welcomed into the 3,000 hit club. He got there with a home run, his second hit in a five-for-five day, caught by a fan who understood the right thing to do and gave the ball back with no expectations of anything in return. The Yankees took care of him, of course, but it just adds to the legend that is Derek Jeter. I'm sure someday down the line, his myth will grow. He will be talked of to my grandchildren and their children in the same breath as Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, etc. And he may have had a more blessed career than any of them. I would be willing to say there is no athlete who has ever had a more blessed career. He would be up there in the list of most blessed lives, regardless of profession. And he has handled all with such grace. I'm no Yankee fan, and I've not always been the highest on Jeter, but I think we have all been Jeter fans this past week. Congratulations, Captain. I was moving and traveling this weekend, so I didn't see much of anything for myself. The good news is it's all pretty much done, so there should be an uptick in my baseball viewing. Hopefully I can make some Dans games again, too, now. But, before I can do that, there's the Home Run Derby, Celebrity/Legends Softball Game, and the All-Star Game, all of which I'm very excited about. The softball game is kind of like the hot dog eating contest. There are quite a few people who don't really care for it, but it is so interesting to me, it's crazy. It really is appointment viewing in my book. The coaches aren't always the funniest (I'm looking at you, Mike & Mike), but it is so cool to see the legends strap it on one more time,* and I always like finding out what celebrities can actually play. I remember Nelly was great in St. Louis. There are others, but he was the one that really stuck out, hitting a homer and making a couple great catches in the outfield. Not sure what local celebs we'll see in Arizona, but excited to find out. I do wish they would skip the models. Sure, they're pretty, but nobody is all that sexy when they're playing softball, and they uniformly can't play a lick. If we want to see boobs, well, we have the internet for much better versions. *I'm really hoping for a Mark Grace sighting, though I understand he will probably be wearing D-Backs gear for this. It would be great if he wore the purple and teal set, though. I suppose I should go on record for a home run derby prediction. Just to set the scene, so to speak, the AL participants are David Ortiz (as captain, and has won this thing a few times), Jose Bautista (the hottest homer hitter going today), Robinson Cano (a great hitter, but I'm not sure he's that kind of power hitter), and Adrian Gonzalez (very solid all around, he should be playing in San Diego, though). On the NL side, we have Prince Fielder (have you seen him? Yeah, he's a contender), Rickie Weeks (I hear he'll surprise everybody, but it's a shame Braun is beat up), Matt Kemp (who has torn it up this year), and Matt Holliday (also a very solid choice, but I think we'd all rather see Pujols if he were 100%). This should be an awfully good year top to bottom, I could see anybody winning it (though Weeks and Cano would admittedly be longshots). In the end though, I'm going to pick Prince Fielder. He's definitely built to be a power hitter, his everyday swing is derby-ready, and I think he's strong enough not to wear down. I wouldn't be surprised to see the two captains in the finals, which could be an absolute hoot. Wouldn't you pay money to see Prince Fielder and David Ortiz hit homers against each other all night? I would. Thankfully, I don't really have to. I'll be taking it all in from my brother's place. We'll see you tomorrow when we break down the All Star Game and pretend that i Comments are closed.
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