15 Years Ago Today

Derek Jeter made his MLB debut:

Derek Jeter’s first major league game ended with an 0-for-5 performance at the plate and a postgame meal at McDonald’s. Fourteen years and 2,718 hits ago, the most memorable part of Jeter’s night might have been the inexpensive hamburgers he shared with his dad. After Jeter’s drab opening, he and his father, Charles, trudged past a series of darkened restaurants before spotting the most familiar of fast-food spots.

“It was the only place that was open,” said Jeter, who paused and added, “I treated.”

Like McDonald’s, Jeter is, for all intents and purposes, his own corporate brand.

But in late May 1995, Jeter was a 20-year-old looking for his first hit. It came the next night, in Jeter’s seventh at-bat in the majors, when he slapped a single between shortstop and third base off the Mariners’ Tim Belcher.

“I could pull it back then,” Jeter joked Monday.

XMAS UPDATE 2:56pm - just noticed Tim Belcher is the pitching coach for the Indians, who the Yankees are playing today.

Of course these days what he's been pulling is the best ass the city has to offer on a consistent basis. I wonder what kind of numbers Josh and Ben have been putting up over the years? Hmm.