2 most overrated baseball highlights

[bobcatfan]

  I thought i'd get a little discussion going on this board with something i've thought of the past few days.  I'm reminded of this every time i watch Baseball Tonight and they preview web gems and they show some old highlights of old web gems.  I always scratch my head at 2 plays in particular that are shown all the time that i think are very good plays but not worthy of the attention they got, thus being overrated.  And if you guessed it right, they both involve the 2 most famous plays Derek Jeter made.  I'll break down both plays...

  The first one is the famous play at Yankee Stadium where there is a foul ball hit behind 3rd base right near the stands and Derek Jeter takes off running, catches it on the run and a few steps later barrells into the first row of the seats and hits his head on the seats and gets a nasty cut under his eye and i believe has to be taken out of the game.  No doubt this was a gutsy play.  But i do have a few questions to why this play was so great.  First off, is there a general perception by ESPN that no other shortstop couldve made this play?  Because to me, it just looks like he takes off running and makes a running catch, a play that most shortstops in MLB SHOULD make.  Secondly, is this play considered great because of the catch, OR the fact that he ends up going in bleachers and hurting himself because people think he sacrificed his body?  So what i'm asking is, if he is able to slow down a little or stop after making the catch and doesnt go into this seats and hurt himself, is this play still as famous as it is today?  I think the answer is no it isnt as famous.  In the play, he takes at least a good 2 or 3 steps before going in to the stands and makes virtually no attempt to slow down.  I think he had enough time to stop or at least slow down.  I think since it was done in New York that had something to do with it.  Although if a much lesser known shortstop for the visiting team at Yankee Stadium wouldve done that exact play, i still dont think we are still watching this play over and over on baseball tonight.

  The other famous play by Derek Jeter was done in the playoffs against the Oakland A's, i believe it was at Oakland.  I'm not sure exactly what happened but i believe Jeremy Giambi was rounding 3rd and going home after a double was hit down the right field line.  There was a relay throw coming from down the first base line toward home plate.  The ball was underthrown and was coming toward homeplate but wasnt going to be in time.  Jeter runs over and catches the ball and quickly flips it to home and Posada tags Giambi out.  I dont think Jeter was necessarily intended to be involved in the play but he made a good instinctive play.  The 2 praises i hear about this play are that it was a heads up play and great hustle.  Here are my criticisms of this play and why it is undeserving of its overplay.  First and foremost, Giambi was SAFE at home, the ump made a bad call!  Giambi was tagged on the back of the leg as he was stepping on home plate.  What's also frustrating about this play is that if Giambi just slides into home plate he beats the tag easily.  The athleticism of the play wasnt overly great, he just caught it and flipped it to the catcher, something any shortstop could and should be able to do.  Yes i'll admit it was a very instinctive play and heads up, but, he is a professional baseball player, hes supposed to make instinctive heads up plays and be in the right place at the right time.  So because a SS makes a heads up play in the playoffs that he wasnt supposed to be involved in the play that stops a critical run, thats merits an all time great play?  If this was a regular season game and someone else did it, it wouldnt be blown so far out of proportion as it is today.  I think the main reason its made out to be such a great play is because it was in the playoffs and it was a critical run, fair enough.  How about Carlos Beltran's catch in game 5 of the 04 NLCS?  That was one of the greatest diving catches i've ever seen and i never see that play shown.  Way better than Jeter's famous "flip".

  What do yall think, do yall agree with me?  i cant wait to hear all the Jeter apologists...

[jmspears3]

Jeter is a good solid player ...I dont think he is great, I will say that over 70% of the players that play that position could make that play. ESPN is nothing more than a love fest for Yankee and Red Sox fans.

No apologists here.

[move]I hate the Yankees[/move]

[king]

Yeah true when sportscenter starts up the first highlight they show is yankee games and 1 game out of every 3 or 4 game series they always show a yankee or redsox game on ESPN.

[formerpirate]

I respectfully disagree with your opinions. I see where you are coming from, but you don't see SS make plays like those everyday. Many SS would have given up on the foul ball and not hustled all the way. You see players every game not hustle out on a ball or try to make the diving or running catch, or even not trying to scale the wall to bring back a foul ball. Jeter made the play because he hustled to the ball when many SS wouldn't have, even though he wasn't able to stop before taking a "dive" into the stands. This play may be slightly overrated, but there are others that are way more overrated.

Then the Oakland play, that was amazing to me. His momentum is fully going in one direction, and he is able to get enough on the flip to actually make an accurate toss to Posada. That is hard to do when your momentum is carrying you one way and you must make a difficult throw or toss in a different direction. Safe or not, it was a great play.

By the way I HATE the Yankees as well, but I respect Jeter. He is a great SS in my opinion.