Derek Jeter Wins Final Game At Yankee Stadium With First Walk-Off Hit Since 2007 [Video]

Derek Jeter lived up to his reputation as he played in his final game at Yankee Stadium. Jeter’s first walk-off hit since 2007 resulted in a 6-5 victory for the New York Yankees and a roar of excitement from his team and fans that rattled the stadium, as Forbes reported on September 26.

You can talk numbers endlessly when it comes to baseball. But in a sporting world that’s become increasingly wrought with unfavorable publicity, Derek is one of the few who remained aware of his reputation. In 20 years of solid play, Jeter has never been thrown out of a game. He founded a non-profit called the Turn2 Foundation in 1996 that has awarded $19 million in grants.

And now that he’s got his eye on both the ball and retirement, Derek is still receiving recognition from sports analysts and experts for his playing prowess. Leave it to Bob Costas, who announced Jeter’s last Yankee game on the MLB Network, to sum it up.

“The numbers alone do not do justice [to Derek Jeter].”

What does do justice, oddly enough, is a commercial. But not just any advertisement. It’s one showing him bidding farewell to New York in an emotional adieu.

http://youtu.be/xfgS1lvqX8I

So now that you’ve played your last game at the stadium that had such a significant role in your career, are you going to Disneyland, Derek? No, but he is actually going to take a day off, the first such occurrence in his 20-year baseball career, revealed USA Today on September 26.

And the usually stoic manager of the Yankees Joe Girardi admitted that he was surprised as well.

“I’m sure he’s emotionally drained today. He’s probably physically drained. He played 10 or 11 days in a row, day games, night games. But it is the first time I remember [that Derek Jeter asked for a day off].”

Jeter confessed that the game exhausted him more emotionally than physically. The realization that he was looking at the end of the road for his career had hit him on the field with more force than one of Smoky Joe Wood’s infamous hard-throwing pitches. And Derek was candid about his feelings.

“I had to stop myself from crying when I was on the field. I’ve never really felt like that before. The emotions changed quickly, but that started before the game even began. It just built up and built up. If they would have taken me out of the game, I probably would have lost it.”

As the emotions flow for Derek Jeter, the rumors about who will replace him are flowing equally freely, as The Inquisitr pointed out. At age 40, he has a strong history of success that makes him irreplaceable as a legend. As a result, the New York Yankees may decide to chose someone young who won’t be compared. Will it be someone from the Major League level? What do you think?

[Photo by Elsa/Getty Images]