The Man, the Myth...

Tim Kurkjian, who ranks among my favorite Armenian baseball writers, sings the praises of Jeter's baserunning. From a press conference following Game 2 of last years ALDS, in which he scored the winning run:

"You made your decision to [tag up] as soon as the ball was hit?'' Jeter was asked.
"I made my decision to go before the ball was hit,'' Jeter said.

God, that's so eerie!

It continues with further anecdotal evidence of Jeter's intangibles, including some choice quotes from Buck Martinez ("You can hear him running to first base!") and Don Zimmer ("Jeter never freezes"). Now I'm not one of these people who won't be satisfied until the Church of Jeter is condemned as heresy. He's a great offensive shortstop, and as long as broadcasters stop marveling at his poor-to-average defense, it doesn't bother me if people want to tell miracle stories of his cunning and determination. They're just kind of funny, that's all.

Jeter may score a few runs each year on plays where lesser baserunners would have been held at third or even thrown out. I'll even admit that a couple of those were due not to his footspeed but to his Baseball IQ or Veteran Presence or Sixth Sense or whatever. But I think it's safe to say the vast majority of his runs scored are simply the result of his very good hitting and decent speed at the top of a perennially excellent Yankee lineup.