Derek Jeter's Year

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Just to think, Derek Jeter became a free agent for the first time in his career after the 2010 season and the New York Yankee's were see-sawing on whether to resign their Captain. At 37 years old, he had started to struggle with the bat and his power numbers were diminishing. He had also lost a step or two at Short Stop, and they were looking to maybe bring in someone else. Maybe move A-Rod back to his natural position.

The problem was that the Yankees didn't want to give Jeter a multi-year deal, fearing he would become a financial burden on the club. Jeter wanted three years with an option on year four. Because of the differences, they came close to losing him to free agency, but reluctantly re-signed him. After all, Jeter has became the face of the Yankees, has never been linked to steroids and never had any off the field problems or issues we see in sports today. He has just shown up everyday for 18 years and played baseball.

After a stint on the disable list in 2011 and some rehab time in Tampa, Jeter worked on his hitting. After a slow start, he eventually finished the year with a respectful .297 average with 6 home runs. In July of 2011, he also achieved his 3000th hit and surpassed Ricky Henderson on the all time Yankee list of stolen bases. Jeter is only the second Short Stop in history to have 3000 hits in a career.



Eighteen games into the 2012 campaign, Jeter is hitting a whopping .422 with an OPS of 1.084. He also has 4 Home Runs and 13 RBI, trailing only Nick Swisher in that category. Looks to me like the New York Yankees scored a home run by re-signing this guy and keeping him a Yankee for life.
The Yankees are going to need Jeters bat if they are going to contend in the American League East this year. They have questionable pitching in a division that is full of great pitching and hitting. Even with the Boston Red Sox having a slow start, the Baltimore Orioles are showing signs of being competitive for the first time in a decade.

Derek Jeter belongs on the long list of all time Yankee greats. He has 12 All-Star appearances, has won The New York Yankee player of the year award 5 times, won 5 gold Glove awards at Short Stop and 4 American League Silver Slugger Awards. His list of other awards are to numerous to list. If he continues 2012 on his current pace, he should be a lock for his 13th All-Star appearance as well he should be. When Jeter decides to retire, he will need a statue in center field alongside The Babe, The Yankee Clipper and the rest of the Yankee greats as well as a statue in Cooperstown.

The Little Track That Could

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I think Kasey Kahne had some unfinished business at Rockingham. In the last Cup Race at "The Rock" in 2004, he lost to Matt Kenseth by only .0010 seconds. I'm sure that was on his mind as he climbed into his Number 4 Turner Motorsports Chevy, and drove to the last row where he had to start due to not qualifying. Kasey finally pushed to the front on lap 155 and held off James Buscher , his Teamate, after a restart with 20 laps to go. The race wasn't as close as the 2004 ending, but gave Kahne his 4th Camping World Truck Series win in just five starts.

It was nice to see a race from The Rock again. From the looks of it on Television, new track owner Andy Hillenburg had the old track ready for this opportunity and had a pretty good crowd with just over 27,000 in attendance to witness the old tracks return to racing.

The Rock is a 1.017 mile D-Oval track with 22 and 28 degree banking in the corners and 8 degrees on the straightaways. It's rough asphalt surface tends to give crew chiefs tire management nightmares. For older Race Fans such as myself, who really enjoy short track racing, it was awesome.

During a time when Nascar was experiencing a rapid upward spiral in popularity, fans and Television support, the small 34,000 seat track was declining in attendance and viewed as old, too close to Charlotte and not up to date with all of the new safety features mandated after Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500. The venue wasn't worthy of the new higher end Nascar fans, so all racing was relocated to warmer weather cities that had other entertainment for the fan base on race weekends. Thus, with it's close proximity to Charlotte, became a good place to test. With Nascar's newer rules regarding testing, it was ideal for teams to have a track where they could go.

I am hoping Mr. Hillenburg can put together more racing at this track and convince Nascar they need this historical track back on the schedule. The one roadblock that I see, is Race Sponsorship. As in all events today, the Corporate Muscle behind an event can make or break it. Some of the old demons that plagued the track in 2004 are still present. It is still a small venue and not on peoples destinations for their entertainment dollars. It isn't enough anymore to just have great racing, we have to be totally entertained for the whole time we visit.

Who knows, with the decline of attendance and popularity that Nascar is experiencing now, maybe they will turn their attention back to the roots of stock car racing and get back to the loyal race fans they have always had. Here's hoping!