Derek Jeter gets the Oscar for his HBP performance in yesterday’s Yankees, Rays game. The amount of sports-talk radio time spent analyzing one at-bat is astounding, but then again, it involved the Yanks, their division rival Tampa Bay Rays and the pinstriped captain, Derek Jeter, America’s male sweetheart.

Bottom line, Derek Jeter played baseball the way it is supposed to be played, including all the little cheats that are traditional.

Derek Jeter cheated?!

Stop the presses; cover the eyes of children everywhere. Is it possible that if he cheats on the field he might actually do the same off the field? You know, like ingesting substances that are banned in the game.

For Pete’s sake, have we really bought his choirboy image to the extent that we think he is incapable of being a teammate that does everything necessary to get his team a win? The win hoped for on Wednesday night would have pushed the Yankees one more game ahead of the Rays in the hotly contested AL East.

Just because he called Joe Torre, “Mr. Torre” during his tenure in New York and hasn’t produced a baby mama that we know of yet, doesn’t mean the guy isn’t a ball player. This is baseball my friends. People steal signs, make believe they checked their swing, claim they didn’t trap a fly ball in the outfield and say they beat the tag at second.

Jeter faked being hit by a pitch, period. Of course it was the Academy Award performance he gave, that was so over the top it had Yankees fans laughing their heads off. Who knew he had it in him? Even fans have bought into the cliches: “He plays the game the right way”, “He’s a class act”, “He provides so many intangibles to the team”, and finally, my new current favorite, “He might be the best Yankee ever”.

Brand-Jeter stands for truth, justice and the American way, not for faking to get on base, that isn’t covered in the above cliche list. Suck it up folks, the guy is human and a ballplayer, nothing more and nothing less. Congrats to Jeter for not only getting to first base, but in the process, getting the opponent’s manager tossed. Sometimes you have to stand for being more than a brand.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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