Jeter's Yankees Hits Record Impressive, But Still Not Anywhere Near Lou Gehrig!!!

Passing Lou Gehrig in almost anything means something (although, as Keith Olbermann pointed out, how many hits would Gehrig have had were it not for ALS?) And owning a Yankees career record is no small matter.

But Jeter was already considered an all-time Yankees great, so he didn't need this record to validate his status.

In fact, this mark means little more than exactly what it is: most hits. There is no way to consider Jeter the best hitter, or the best offensive player, in Yankees history.



Consider the all-time Yankees leaders in various categories, according to baseball-reference.com. Jeter is fifth in batting average but 14th in on-base percentage, 35th in slugging percentage and 24th in OPS.

His "adjusted OPS+" -- OPS weighted for his ballpark and era -- is 34th in team history. His "offensive winning percentage" -- what kind of record would a lineup of nine Derek Jeters have -- is 29th.

Jeter has far fewer doubles, triples and home runs than Gehrig had. And batting at the top of the order most of the time, Jeter has even scored fewer runs than Gehrig did.

Now, considering he has played shortstop his entire career, even if some of that play has been below average, Jeter's offense has been well above average.

But putting him in the sphere of Yankees hitters, what Jeter has done is hit. Hit very well. Not for power. Not with a lot of walks in addition. But just plain hit.

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