ST. LOUIS — To make their farewell salute to Derek Jeter stand out, the Cardinals turned to their very own legendary shortstop Monday.
Ozzie Smith joined his fellow Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst (who wore uniform No. 2 for the Cardinals) and team management in a ceremony at Busch Stadium before the Yankees beat the Cardinals 6-4 in 12 innings. The Cardinals gave Jeter cuff links bearing the likeness of their late icon Stan Musial as well as a $10,000 check for Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation.
“I think when you look at players, especially playing in New York — which is never easy — he’s probably been the perfect example of what a baseball player should be,” Smith told The Post of Jeter.
“Great ambassador for the game. He’s done it the right way. … And I think a lot of that credit goes to his parents, his upbringing and stuff.
“…Not everybody gets to go on a tour for retirement. I think that speaks to his character and the type of person that he’s been.”
When The Post obnoxiously asked the famously acrobatic Smith whether he would encourage Jeter to do a backflip before retiring, Smith laughed and replied, “I know he’s got a bad ankle, so that’s not a good idea.”
Smith and Jeter overlapped in Major League Baseball for two seasons, as Jeter debuted with the Yankees in 1995 and Smith retired following his 1996 season with the Cardinals, yet they never played each other in the days before interleague play. They came close, though: Jeter’s 1996 Yankees qualified for (and ultimately won) the World Series, while Smith’s ’96 Cardinals held a 3-1 series lead over Atlanta in the National League Championship Series before the Braves won three straight to take on the Yankees in the Fall Classic.
Because Smith has remained involved in Major League Baseball, including some broadcast experience, he and Jeter have developed a relationship. Said Jeter of Smith: “He’s always treated me good, especially when I was a younger player. When you’re a young player, you remember how guys treat you. And Ozzie has always treated me well.”
This marks Jeter’s second regular-season trip to St. Louis, as the Yankees played a 2005 series at the old Busch Stadium. Jeter also participated in the 2009 All-Star Game here.
With the Yankees in town, the Cardinals commemorated the 50th anniversary of their 1964 World Series-winning club, which defeated the Yankees in seven games for the title. Schoendienst, a coach on that Cardinals team, joined players including Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Bob Gibson as well as Hall of Fame broadcaster Tim McCarver.
During their unusual, one-hotel, two-ballpark trip to Chicago, the Yankees twice overcame multi-run deficits in the ninth inning to prevail. They climbed back from down 2-0 to the Cubs on Wednesday, and then 3-0 to the White Sox on Saturday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Yankees won two games when facing multiple-run deficits in the ninth inning or later during one road trip was July 1994, when they did so first in Seattle and then in Anaheim.