Herz: Derek Jeter’s Lost Awards

or…Jeter and his missing Win Sharewares.

In 2003, Jeter’s .324 BA was good for third in the league, just a tick behind both Bill Mueller (.326) and Manny Ramirez (.325). Here, park effects show a more pronounced difference in Jeter’s favor. Mueller’s BA was 19.4% above the Fenway Park adjusted average of .273, while Jeter’s BA was 22.3% above the Yankee Stadium adjusted average of .265. In a race that was extremely close, park effects almost certainly made the difference, thereby rewarding Mueller for posterity’s sake, while overlooking Jeter.

Also, one may question whether in these years any players on other teams had adjusted averages that trumped Jeter’s, thereby making them and not Jeter the adjusted batting champion? The answer is no - Jeter was the adjusted batting champion in both 1999 and 2003. In fact, since 1950, there have been 7 seasons in which a Yankee player was the adjusted batting champion but not the raw batting champion: Alex Rodriguez (2005), Derek Jeter (2003), Derek Jeter (1999), Bobby Murcer (1971), Mickey Mantle (1962), Moose Skowron (1960), Mickey Mantle (1952) - in four of these seasons, the raw batting champion was a Red Sox player.

To conclude, despite some recent criticism, I don’t believe I am a Jeter hater. Rather, I do get aggravated by the fact that there are a lot of blatant Jeter haters out there who might point to Jeter’s lack of major awards as some kind of evidence, while lauding lesser players who were honored for doing less. The shame of it is that Jeter has deserved some of these distinctions, but it’s a recognition that will likely be lost on most.