I post this less to wallow in Jeter nostalgia -- we got a lot of that these days -- than I do to marvel at the fact that Derek Jeter’s first All-Star Game was in 1998.
If you would have asked me I would’ve bet an awful lot that he was in the Mid-Summer Classic before that. He was Rookie of the Year in 1996 and was a key cog in helping the Yankees win the World Series that year. He was a force in the AL playoffs that year and while his World Series numbers weren’t that good, there was this sense as you watched him that fall that he was Baseball’s Next Big Star.
But the mid-90s were a long time ago, and as we sit here now it’s easy to forget that that’s when a lot of amazing shortstops walked the Earth, especially in the American League. Cal Ripken had a vice-lock on the fan vote. Alex Rodriguez had already posted an amazing couple of seasons. Nomar Garciaparra broke onto the scene in 1997 (and Jeter’s 1997 was a down year for him) There was just so much darn competition at the position then.
So 1998 it was. And here, courtesy of MLB Productions, is what The Captain looked like back then:
[mlbvideo id="34403657" width="600" height="336" /]