ESPN’S Mike And Mike Asks: Is Derek Jeter MLB’s Last Superstar?

With Derek Jeter‘s retirement, ESPN’s The Mike and Mike Show pondered Wednesday morning if Major League Baseball has seen its last super star.

Since offensive numbers are down throughout baseball, and the performance enhancing era is a not too distant memory, are the days of players reaching the bigger than life status of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter and the like simply over?

No, they are not! As long as there is a New York Yankees, that will never happen. Yes, the Yankees have struggled lately, but there is still one irrefutable fact. Players dream all of their lives of being in the Major Leagues. And when they get to the Majors, whether they openly admit it or not, there will always be stars who dream of  wearing pinstripes.

If the thought of Troy Tulowitzki, Mike Trout, or Giancarlo Stanton playing for the Yankees seems preposterous to you, then you obviously were not around before the George Steinbrenner era began. After years of watching the Yankees reach mediocrity at best, it took just one strong-willed owner to turn it around.

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Inevitably, if George’s boys can’t make it happen, someone with a big ego will come along waving alot of cash and will wrestle the Yankees away like George took them away from CBS. In my mind, someone like Mark Cuban would be perfect.

And when it becomes obvious that the Yankees are on the rise again, players will come out of the woodwork and head for the Yankees the way Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Bucky Dent and others did for George. And the foundation may already be in place with young pitchers like Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda.

Sure, the Yankees need to straighten out their infield and target younger stars, instead of aging veterans who are prone to injury. But the mystique of the New York Yankees is what will eventually bring the Yankees back. And nothing, not revenue sharing or anything else, can prevent it from happening.