Former shortstop Derek Jeter is a lot of things. He’s a Hall of Famer, a five-time World Series champion, a Yankee great, and now a baseball commentator. There are certain players who are synonymous with the team they played for during their MLB career. Jeter definitely fits that mold. Spending 20 years in pinstripes will do that.
But did you know there was a situation where Jeter actually played against the Yankees once? Yes, it actually happened. I’m sure many of us were aware of it at the time, but I certainly wiped that moment from my memory, Men In Black style.
I’m bringing this up for a couple of reasons. First of all, it came across my Twitter feed over the weekend. I figured that if I was surprised to be reminded about this, I wouldn’t be the only one. Second of all, this moment was only made possible because of the World Baseball Classic, which is fast approaching.
The exhibition contest took place on March 3, 2009. Team USA ended up beating the Yankees 6-5, and the Yankee Captain had something to do with it. Jeter went 2-for-4 with a walk, one run scored, and two RBI. Both of those rib-eye steaks came on a single up the middle against Phil Hughes.
Here’s a look at that base hit:
Derek Jeter once played against the Yankees in a spring training game for Team USA in 2009. pic.twitter.com/cj9BQZw9Jd
— Gershon Rabinowitz (@GershOnline) February 27, 2023
In ESPN’s game recap of this contest, Jeter said this matchup felt like an intrasquad game to him. However, that didn’t stop him from still feeling out of place:
It was strange running to the other dugout. I almost ran to the other side a couple times.
As you can imagine, Jeter wasn’t the only one feeling confused at times. Michael Kay was in the booth and called the above play just fine, but the person in charge of the YES Network’s score bug had an understandable brain fart. After Jeter’s two-run single, they added two runs to the Yankees’ total instead of giving two to Team USA.
Jeter and the rest of Team USA didn’t win the World Baseball Classic that year (those honors belong to Japan and WBC MVP, Daisuke Matsuzaka). However, the shortstop got the last laugh by returning to the Yankees and winning the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies later that fall.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
