Agreed, maybe not the greatest player of his generation but a very steady, reliable and very good player.

Definite hall of famer for me.

Oh yes. A ridiculously overqualified, no doubt about it, it's hardly even a Hall without him type of Hall of Famer.

Honus Wagner is easily - easily - the greatest shortstop in history. Jeter is in the middle of the discussion for Who's Number Two. Which is a helluva thing.

Who is number two? Vaughan, Rodriguez, Yount were indeed all outstanding, but not very long (at shortstop, anyway.) Ripken was a great player, but a wildly inconsistent hitter. Smith, Aparicio, Vizquel were brilliant defenders, but none of them could carry Derek Jeter's batting gloves. Never mind his bat. Reese? Rizzuto? I think not...

IMO, if you think Jeter is the 2nd best shortstop in history, you're ignoring half of every Yankee game.

Well, how many extra singles have the opposition managed because of it? You could take away 500 singles, knock him down to 2500 hits (which I think would be a ridiculously large over-compensation) - and he still looks pretty good.

That's assuming nobody is on base when those grounders get through the infield. Some of those "hits" would've likely been turned into double plays by a competent shortstop.

I love to hate Jeter, mainly because he's a Yankee and despite the fact that even though he is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer, he STILL manages to be overrated. Still though, congratulations to him. Hopefully he doesn't retire any time soon so the Yankees will be forced to carry his dead weight at SS for at least the next three years.

I don't disagree that he looks "pretty good." I'm not going to go to an extreme and argue his defence would knock him out of the Hall of Fame. However, I'm sure you're aware of the evidence (and observation) that makes it clear that Jeter is likely the worst defensive shortstop ever to play more than, say, a decade at the position.

He clearly has significant other strengths, which have allowed him to remain at the position and the Yankees to be successful during his time at short. However, many other top shortstops are moved off the position in their early-to-mid thirties, such as Ripken who was a superior fielder to Jeter in the first place.

Jeter's offensive accomplishments should be measured against his poor defensive record and the fact he hasn't been moved from the position seems to be a strange product of his celebrity and the other assets of the Yankees rather than a testament to his defence. To me, you have to give Jeter significant credit for his longevity at the position and ignore his defence during the entirety of his career to get him in the conversation with Arky Vaughan. I don't know where I'd rank Jeter off the top of my head, but several spots below that, I think.

likely the worst defensive shortstop ever to play more than, say, a decade at the position.

Oh, I gotta go with Bill Russell, I think.

I think I admire Jeter for many of the same reasons I've always admired Berra. Yes, Johnny Bench was a defensive whiz, and he could hit 45 HRs and drive in 130 - unless he was hitting 16 HRs and driving in 60. Berra just stamped out the same really good year again and again and again. You can, and you probably will, win a championship with guys like Bench and Campanella and Ripken. You can win a bunch of them with Yogi.

That's one of my instinctive prejudices, of course. I've always preferred Stan Musial to Ted Williams (or Barry Bonds) for a lot of the same reasons.

A tremendous accomplishment for a tremendous player.  I have a good deal of respect for what he's done & how he generally goes about his business.  I was very happy to see him have the day he did & to hit #3000 in a 'no doubt about it' fashion was pretty great.  It all seemed perfect.  Tip 'o the cap to Jeter. 

That said, I'm quite thrilled it's over & I don't have to hear about anymore. 

Well, how many extra singles have the opposition managed because of it?

First thing you have to do is decide what you're comparing him to. Edgar Renteria? Ozzie Smith? Russ Adams?

Maury Wills? Chris Speier? Jose Offerman?

Maybe it's because of the shortstops I'm old enough to remember that Jeter's defensive shortcomings don't bother me as much as they bother everyone else. Hubie Brooks! Julio Franco!

Wild. So you could be no worse at fielding SS in an absolute sense than most big-leaguers were 50 years ago, and yet have a substantially worse rating from UZR and its friends because the game's evolved. That's true for every other aspect of the game as well, but most stats measuring everything else aren't measured relative to average.

Ozzie is Ozzie. Russ Adams might as well be nobody. Renteria sounds to me like the personification of average...

Ozzie was amazing, but it's certainly true that the presence of guys like Larry Bowa and Hubie Brooks as National League shortstops at the same time did make him stand out just a little.

Alex Rodriguez.

Counting A-Rod as a third baseman, the second best shortstop is probably Cal Ripken. Jeter's in the discussion with Yount, Bill Dahlen and Arky Vaughan for third. Personally, I'd take Vaughan.

Incidentally, I liked Yogi a helluva lot more than Jeter. He was self-effacing, and when the time came, he moved to the outfield. Plus, he was a better defender than Jeter without any of the glitz.

Actually, I think I'd go with Vaughan over Ripken, Larkin over Jeter. And that would be my Top 5... Wagner and Vaughan were so far above the rest as hitters and were good defenders. Jeter's probably the next best with the bat, but Ripken and Larkin both have enough of an edge with the glove to move ahead of him.

And yeah, Rodriguez only has eight years as a shortstop. And that was his choice. He knew which team he was joining and what position he was going to play.

I think the worst thing about this 3,000 hit run is having to hear about how humble Jeter is and how he doesn't want any attention...which is I assume why he lives in his modest home in Florida (http://photos.tmz.com/galleries/derek_jeters_cool_new_crib__zoom_view#tab=most_recent) and never dates famous actresses. Jeter was a great player and a certain HOFer but like almost every Yankee,  is still massively overrated.  Jeter  is basically Robbie Alomar with terrible defense.

Some things are all a question of timing. If Derek Jeter had been born in the 1920s, some scout might have found him and signed him up, and he could have spent his entire career in St. Louis, let's say. Where he'd be a local legend, and a mythic figure in the midwest. They'd probably build a statue of him outside the ballpark. But hardly anyone would have actually seen him play. You know, Stan Musial.

Or he could have been born in the 1950s and been drafted by... oh, Kansas City. And again he'd be a local legend, but the rest of baseball public would have only become acquainted with him during the post-season. Where, like George Brett, he was able to do a few things that will be remembered.

But he was born in the 1970s, and he was drafted by the Yankees. New York is still the centre of the baseball media universe (although that universe is nowhere near as warped and New York-centric as it used to be.) This was good for his legend, obviously. Media people form their opinions by talking to players and managers. Jeter's fellow players are simply in awe of him, on a level no baseball player since Nolan Ryan has evoked from his peers. That's fed the worship.

But he also played his career in an era of expanded post-seasons and in an era where pretty well every game was available to be seen. The scrutiny he has been subject to dwarfs anything Musial or Brett had to cope with. There's also a kind of principled, but reflexive, skepticism, at work, that insists on finding flaws in everyone and everything.

You know, Stan Musial couldn't throw worth a damn. Willie Mays was pretty mediocre in the post-season.

I'd argue with one of the greatest all time in the article above. A great player? yes... one of the best shortshops ever? yes.... one of the greatest players ever? Not really.

It's a good day to be a Yankee fan:)  He deserves to get 100% of the Hall Of Fame vote. Outside of his on field play, I'm amazed he hasn't been involved in a single "scandal" during his career.

Some guys cannot handle the pressure of playing for the NYY. Jeter was awesome at it, unlike Kenny Rogers IMO.

Jeter has been healthy.
A lineup of no soft spots offensively IMO means 1) No 1 player has the pressure of carrying the team. 2) The opposing pitchers SP & RP get worn out by that line up. They can over tax a pen over every series. 3) Again no undue pressure to win because having a great line up & stacked pitching, make winning easier. 4) Filling or over filling holes using the July 31st trade deadline is a distinct advantage.

I salute him. He probably is a decent person. He was lucky to be in a "baseball situation" with overwhelming odds for success. Winning 1 or 2 more WS and the fairy tale is complete.