Derek Jeter has amassed 2,985 career hits, and the baseball fan who hasn’t kept abreast of new rules that were instituted this year might think the fabled Yankees shortstop is closing in on 3,000. Cubs fans in particular fear Jeter might make the milestone hit at Wrigley during the June 17-19 series, and are reminded of Roger Clemens’ visit to the Friendly Confines in 2003 when the legendary pitcher was stuck on 299 wins.
However, Jeter has been progressing extremely slowly toward the milestone, averaging just 1.2 hits per month this season.
“He has 2,985 official hits, only two more than he started out with when the season began,” said Elias Sports Bureau statistician Mort Everest. “Assuming he still keeps his starting job for some ungodly reason, he still has quite a hill to climb at this pace, and should reach 3,000 hits sometime in June of 2014.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi was more optimistic.
“I could see him banging out number 3,000 by the end of next season,” he said. “He just needs to get hot. Not old-Derek-Jeter hot. Just current-Derek-Jeter hot. So like three hits a month or something.”
By Rob C. Christiansen
