TAMPA — The last time there was this much doubt in spring training about Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera was 1996.
Actually, to say there was doubt about Rivera would be to elevate his meaning. Joe Girardi, a new Yankee that spring, never even had heard of Rivera going into that camp. Jeter, 21, was a touted prospect, but was anointed the starting shortstop mainly because George Steinbrenner wanted to prove he had a fertile farm system to counter the buzz the Mets were generating with Generation K.
But a Steinbrenner confidant, Clyde King, privately stated the Yankees could not win a championship that year with Jeter at short. That so unsettled The Boss that he convened a late-March executive meeting to mull whether to obtain Felix Fermin from Seattle for Rivera and demote Jeter to Triple-A.
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The Yankees — thanks to the calming voices of people such as Gene Michael and Willie Randolph — decided not to make what arguably would have been the worst trade in sports history. Instead, Jeter was kept at shortstop; Rivera soared from trading block to long man to indomitable set-up man to, ultimately, closer.
The rest is history. No, really: history. In the last 17 years, the Yankees have won 1,652 regular season games (80 more than any other club) and five titles (three more than any other team).
Many will cite Steinbrenner’s open wallet and all the stars it bought to explain this level of sustained success. But the cornerstones of relentless contention have been how two stars aligned so ideally for so long.
“It is nice to have constants,” Girardi said.
Just think how far ahead of the game — or a few thousand games — you are by getting to assemble a roster around one of the greatest shortstops ever and the best closer. Now add postseason genius. And consistent year-in, year-out excellence.
Imagine the front office’s comfort knowing the players will stay humble and hungry regardless of success. They will avoid controversy. They will lead by example. They will handle themselves with such professionalism that media relations head Jason Zillo will tell young players who ignore the films and pamphlets on dealing with the press to “just watch what Jeter and Rivera do.”
And there has been this final piece to the recipe: durability. Not just steadiness but sturdiness. Jeter has played at least 145 games in 15 different seasons, the most ever by a shortstop. Rivera is 20 appearances away from tying Dennis Eckersley for most games by a right-handed pitcher.
But they both limped out of 2012 with by far their worst injuries ever, and they are showing, at the least, the slightest traces of limps still. Yet both have vowed to be their full selves — no excuses, no limitations — by Opening Day as they recover from a torn ACL (Rivera) and a fractured left ankle (Jeter).
They have genetics and motivated personalities on their side. But time is their enemy, as much as both hate to be reminded of their age. Rivera is 43. Jeter turns 39 in June.
Honus Wagner, early last century, and Luke Appling, just after World War II, are the only 39-or-older shortstops in major league history to produce at a high level on offense. Neither had to do so after a devastating ankle injury at age 38 like the one that left Jeter needing a scooter to move around his Tampa mansion and having to relearn to walk as part of what he described as an “absolutely terrible offseason.”
Jeter hopes to be cleared to run on a field as early as today, to play games a week or two into the exhibition season and not lose range of motion or fielding range despite the plate and screws in his ankle.
I am not going to bet against Jeter. I thought he was done as a high-level player as he struggled in 2010 and the first half of 2011. But he produced 216 hits at 38 in 2012, the most by any player of any age in the past three years.
Nevertheless, we should appreciate just how stacked the odds are against Jeter and Rivera both making it all the way back to full health and great production, all the way back at their advanced age and serious injuries to be bedrocks of team accomplishment once more.
It is 1996 all over again, just the doubt is no longer what we don’t know about Jeter and Rivera, but what we do.
joel.sherman@nypost.com