* It’s hard–no, impossible–to root for the New York Yankees. The playing field is always tilted in their deep-pocketed favor. But it’s always been easy to root for Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ perennial All-Star shortstop. Not unlike the recently retired Mariano Rivera before him, Jeter, 39, is the epitome of class. He has announced his retirement at the end of this season.
Here’s hoping he goes out more like Ted Williams than Willie Mays or Hank Aaron, who hung on too long. Williams hit .316 with 29 home runs for the Boston Red Sox in his retirement year of 1960. And that 29th homer came in his literal last at-bat.
May Jeter, who has never been tainted with scandal–even in the glare of New York media– homer in his last at-bat too. Unless, of course, it’s against the Rays.
And, by the way, the Yankees are reaping all they can from Jeter’s farewell. His final home game is Sept. 25. The average ticket price has climbed to more than $800. They are still the Yankees.
* Olympic athletes, collectively, are a hybrid group, to be sure. They’re all uber competitors, and they’ve all worked hard to reach the ultimate arena in their sport. But it’s hardly an egalitarian grouping. You think a gold medal in women’s figure-skating isn’t marketing manna in the multi-millions? You think a curling gold medal has a huge commercial upside?
For the record, while no non-hockey-playing American Olympian makes what NHL stars do, the ranks of snowboarders and alpine skiers do include some with seven- and eight-figure net worths–mainly attributable to endorsement deals. The top five: snowboarder Shawn White, $20 million; alpine skier Bode Miller, $8 million; alpine skier Ted Ligety, $2 million; snowboarder Hannah Teter, $1 million; and snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, $1 million.
* This year there are 98 Winter Olympic events. As recently as 1992, there were only 57.