Derek Jeter shut up all the doubters and nay-sayers on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the new big ballpark in the Bronx. Needing 2 hits with 2 games to play before the All-Star break we are currently suffering through (actually, I may go see live, local theatre tonight as there is no real baseball game on) the Captain did it with more style and boom than anyone other than he could have expected. There has often been a "I'll show you" to his game that he does on the field and the day he got his vaunted 3,000th hit was no exception.

Jeet singled in the first after a lengthy at-bat and then two innings later following another battle with top-notch starter David Price (who gave up his 1st HR in his career to Jeter) Derek took him over the wall and into the hands of a fan in the left-field bleachers for a loud punctuation to the historic event. That the long-ball (his 1st in almost a full year at Yankee Stadium) tied the game was probably of a lot of consequence to the "team-first" player that he is.

And then the day just got silly because if I had written this into a screenplay no one would have believed it; Derek Jeter then got 3 more hits -- just winding up a triple short of hitting for the cycle -- including a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 8th. Had Jeter gotten his hit during a game that the Yankees lost, I doubt he would have celebrated it like he - and Yankee fans everywhere - got to after the great 5-4 win. And my thoughts of an AJ Burnett shaving cream pie in the face were not that far off; had Jeter's 5th hit come an inning later, that is exactly what we would have seen. Maybe for #4,000.

Minka Kelly, looking amazing in a black tanktop, jeans and her hair pulled back, cried when Jeter achieved history.

Dick Groch, the scout who signed the Yankee legend also got some great screen time. Groch, who had started scouting Derek when he was a HS sophomore in Michigan had really pushed for the Yanks to sign the skinny kid. When there was some thought that Jeter wouldn't sign, that he was going to attend Michigan State University, Groch told the Yankee brass that this kid who only wanted to be the Yankee short-stop from the time he was in the 4th grade "wasn't going anyplace but Cooperstown." It's rare that a scout is so dead-right about a player, but there it is.

Of course, the Yankee beat writers, one day after applauding and lauding were back to their old questions about the age and vitality about the Yankee Captain. Even Jeter joked that his respite lasted but one day. What can you do?

What made the day even a little more special and memorable is what happened to the ball Jeter hit into the stands for 3000. I immediately had my own Facebook status update indicate that had I caught that ball, I would give it to the Captain. In a great fairy-tale subplot, that's exactly all the 23 year old kid wanted to do with the ball: give it to Jeter, saying "he earned it," and that he "wasn't the person to keep it from Jeter." Some estimates had the auction price of that $10 baseball at anywhere between $250-$400K which is indeed quite a chunk of change even if the seat had cost the kid's girlfriend $65 on StubHub.

Giving up the ball and asking for nothing in return netted the catcher a pretty nice assortment of appreciative gifts from the Yankee brass. He was given 4 great seats for yesterday's game, 4 suite-level seats for every home game into the playoffs as well as what was called a collection of signed memorabilia. Even more special, I would have to imagine, was getting to meet Derek Jeter on his impressive and history-making day to hand over the ball marked "J1."

Enjoy the All-Star break; see you in a few days.

Brian