Derek Jeter Closing In On 14th All-Star Game

Jun 25, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) comes off the field after ending the second inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Derek Jeter continues to lead the pack in American league All-Star voting for shortstops. The Yankees’ Captain would be thrilled and humbled to be ticketed to the All-Star Game at Target Field July 15th, but he’s not 100% convinced yet. “You know me — I don’t think about that before it happens,” Jeter said on Monday to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “I learned that a long time ago. I’ll wait to see what happens.” 

Jeter is holding off Alexei Ramirez with 2,924,686 to Ramirez’s 2,325,527. Teammate Masahiro Tanaka was one player vouching for Jeter. On his Vine account, Tanaka urged fans to keep voting for Jeter in Japanese and also in English.

Right now Jeter is staying focused on the Yankees’ upcoming schedule, when asked about his plans for July, Jeter said “My plans for the middle of July? I’ll be in Cleveland, Baltimore, then home for Cincinnati and Texas,” Jeter said, skipping over the four All-Star break days in the heart of the month. “Those are my plans right now, as of now.”

Jeter has good reason to be reluctant to prematurely celebrate an All-Star trip citing, 1999 when Nomar Garciaparra had a frenzy of votes that put him 30,000 votes ahead of Jeter in the final day of voting. “Everyone was like, ‘Oh, you’re leading,'” Jeter recalled. “Then Garciaparra got like 100,000, 200,000 votes the last day, something like that. After that, I said, ‘I’ll just wait.'” 

One  more trip to the All-Star game would put Jeter in a tie for second with Joe DiMaggio and Mariano Rivera.