BATMAN RETURNS: Derek Jeter looks for a sign from third base coach Rob Thomson during the third inning of the Yankees’ 6-3 loss to the Indians last night in Cleveland. (Getty Images)
CLEVELAND — It was right here, right on this field, the last time Derek Jeter encountered this level of doubt.
The stadium was called Jacobs Field then and Jeter had a stylish haircut, at least stylish for 1996, buzzed on the side and bushy on top.
Then, like now, a Yankee team with expectations looked at their shortstop and wondered about his identity. Wondered if Jeter had the goods on both sides of the ball to help a championship-caliber team maximize its potential.
“He was still a rookie and you wondered how he would hold up through an entire season,” recalled David Cone, the Opening Day starter in Cleveland, 1996.
We know the answer now, of course. Jeter had a great opener — a homer off Dennis Martinez and the defensive play of the game. It was a calling card to greatness; a step toward immortality; 21 and on the way to Cooperstown.
That was then, this is now. Same field, same guy — well, sort of. Jeter is 37, cutting his hair microscopically short to mask its thinning, receding nature.
But there is no hiding his fading game. He was back atop the lineup last night more for who he was then who he is; an honor emeritus. In explaining why Jeter was leading off, Joe Girardi used words such as “leadership” and “consistency,” but never greatness. His consistency in 2011, in fact, is about steady failure: 155th out of 157 qualifiers in line-drive percentage, 152nd in extra-base hit percentage, 135th in OPS.
None of that improved last night as Jeter was among the many dominated by Josh Tomlin and Indians pitching during the Yankees’ 6-3 loss. He went 0-for-4, again not showing much vitality in his swing; a soft lineout to short serving as a highlight. His average once addicted to .300-plus, is down to .256. No amount of intangibles covers that up.
Even Jeter said, “This year I am not happy with my first half” and he usually avoids negatives with the same fervor mice try to avoid snakes.
So he did not budge off 2,994 hits. He did not have the hoped-for re-launch to better results. He admitted afterward: “I was a little nervous. It was a little like Opening Day.”
But not like Opening Day 15 years ago, when Jeter began a campaign here to make doubters go away.
“He made a huge statement (in the 1996 opener),” Cone said. “It did not go unnoticed. It opened eyes, the sky was the limit.”
It is easy to forget now just how much uncertainty surrounded Jeter, who had a cup of coffee with the Yanks in 1995. Jeter was made the starting shortstop in the offseason, but watching Jeter struggle on both sides of the ball in spring 1996, Clyde King, one of George Steinbrenner’s personal advisors, told The Boss, “We can’t win this year with Derek Jeter playing shortstop every day. He’s not ready.”
Six days before the opener, Steinbrenner convened a meeting to decide Jeter’s immediate fate. Tony Fernandez, who was going to be the Yankee shortstop safety net, had been lost for the year, injuring his elbow while playing second. With a youngster named Alex Rodriguez taking over short, Seattle told the Yanks it would trade Felix Fermin for either Bob Wickman or another unproven kid named Mariano Rivera.
This was being considered before Gene Michael and Willie Randolph, in particular, convinced The Boss to stick with Jeter. Still, the rope was short. Because the pressure was large. Steinbrenner was as involved as ever; there was an unpopular turnover from Buck Showalter, Don Mattingly and Mike Stanley to Joe Torre, Tino Martinez and Joe Girardi.
But in his second at-bat on April 2, 1996, Jeter went over the large left-field wall in Cleveland. In the sixth inning, with Cone protecting a 2-0 lead, two outs and a man on second, Omar Vizquel popped to no-man’s land in shallow left-center. If the ball had landed for an RBI single, an Indian lineup good enough to have Jim Thome sixth and Manny Ramirez seventh would have turned over, knocking Cone out. However, Jeter made what would become a patented play, catching a pop in full sprint with his back to the infield.
The first chapter toward greatness had been written. Now, late in the book, back in the same place and trying to prove there are still plenty of more chapters of greatness, Jeter could not write a happy beginning.