Jeter to retire in 2014

[Tonus]

Where it seems in the past, if a team really wanted a player, and that player wanted to be with that team, that was it, he was there for most, if not all, of his career.

That was due to the reserve clause, which allowed wealthy team owners to treat players like property. Until 1976, if an owner really wanted a player he was there for his entire career, whether he wanted to or not. And if the owner wanted him gone he was gone, whether he wanted it or not. Free agency meant that the players had the leverage they needed to force owners to pay them something that was much more in line with the revenue they helped generate. It also meant that the day when good or popular players spent their careers with one team was done.

Derek Jeter stayed a Yankee because after his previous contract (which paid him an average of $17 million per year for 11 years) finished, he was at a point in his career where no other team was going to pay as much as they Yankees could, so they "low-balled" him with a four year contract that will "only" pay him $12 million this year. Big numbers, but the negotiation was a bit contentious.

I will give him credit for walking away while he is still an effective player who could easily milk his popularity and reputation to force the Yankees into a corner. If he stays healthy and collects another 184 hits this season (within the range of possibility, he had 216 in 2012) he would have 3,500 hits and people would wonder if he could reach 4,000. And the Yankees would not want to refuse him if he wanted to return and chase that milestone.

If he has a season like that and sticks to his decision, he goes out on top and in five years would threaten the record for highest vote percentage on a Hall of Fame ballot (currently 98.8% achieved by Tom Seaver in 1992). Jeter appeals to the broad spectrum of baseball media, from the stat-obsessed sabermetricians (who will give him some grief over his defense, but otherwise acknowledge that he is a no-doubt first-ballot Hall-of-Famer) and the old-school writers who look beyond the numbers and towards less tangible properties in a player. While I doubt it would happen, it would not shock me if he got 100% of the vote.