'The Captain' stars in his final Mid-summer Classic

                The 85^th annual MLB All-Star Game was held Tuesday night at Target Field in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Twins.

                The game featured New York Yankees starting shortstop and captain, Derek Jeter, who was playing in the final All-Star Game of his illustrious 20-year career. Jeter went 2-for-2 on the night, which included a lead-off double off of St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright to start the game. Jeter also flashed the leather making a diving play and nearly throwing out Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen on a ball which should have ended up in the outfield grass.

                In the top of the fourth inning Jeter was taken out of the game and replaced by Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez. On his way to the dugout Jeter received quite the standing ovation and spent several minutes embracing his American League teammates and giving curtain calls to the audience.

                Over his career, Jeter has certainly been no stranger to participating in the Mid-summer Classic. Jeter has been named an AL All-Star fourteen times, starting at shortstop on nine of those occasions. Jeter’s All-Star Game debut was at the 1998 Mid-summer classic, held at Coors Field in Colorado. Over his fourteen games as an All-Star ‘The Captain’ has gone an incredible 13-for-27 (a .481 average).

                Entering the second half of his final season, Jeter finds himself in the legendary ranks of baseball history. Jeter, the Yankees all-time hit leader, is eighth on the all-time hit-list with 3,408 hits. It is very realistic to expect Jeter to make his way up to sixth on the hit-list, having to only pass legends such as Carl Yastrzemski (3,419) and Honus Wagner (3,430) to do so. Jeter also holds the Yankees’ records for doubles (534) and stolen bases (354). He ranks 9^th on the Yankees’ all-time home run list (258) and 6^th on the Yanks’ RBI list (1286).

                In an interview with former teammate and ESPN correspondent Aaron Boone, Jeter stated that his biggest strength as a player was “consistency”. “I’d like to think that the Yankees know what they’re getting when they put my name in the lineup,” said Jeter.

                A career .311 hitter, AL Rookie of the Year, five-time World Series Champion and a five-time recipient of the Golden Glove award, Jeter has been the benchmark for consistency day-in and day-out since making his major league debut back in 1995. Jeter’s consistency, competitiveness and confidence have lifted his game to an elite level and propelled him into the Mt. Rushmore of baseball’s historic icons.