May 29, 1995: Derek Jeter's 1st Major League Game

May 29, 1995. 30 years ago: The New York Yankees played the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome in Seattle. Making his major league debut was a player originally from West Milford, New Jersey, but growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a student at the University of Michigan, a month short of his 21st birthday. His name was Derek Jeter.

Reflecting his publicly-stated desire to reach the Yankees while they still had a single-digit uniform number available, he wore Number 2, started at shortstop, and batted 9th.

The Mariner starter that night was Rafael Carmona, and if you've never heard of him, don't worry about it: He, too, was a rookie, making his own big-league debut just 11 days earlier. He made a grand total of 81 major league appearances, all for the Mariners. Despite the M's making the Playoffs that year and in 1997, he made no postseason appearances for them, and made his last appearance for any major league team just 4 years later, almost to the day. His opposition of Jeter that night is the only truly remarkable thing about him.

Jeter led off the top of the 3rd for his 1st at-bat, and flew out to right field. The right fielder was Darren Bragg -- not the ex-Yankee Jay Buhner. He led off the top of the 5th, and grounded to shortstop Félix Fermín -- whom the Yankees wanted to trade Mariano Rivera to the Mariners for the following Spring, as they didn't think Jeter was ready. (No, I'm not making that up. It could have been the worst MLB trade of the era.) In the 6th, he hit a line shot to right that was caught by Bragg. In the 9th, he grounded to 2nd.

The game went to extra innings, and he struck out to end the 11th. The Yankees lost in 12 innings, 8-7, when Rich Amaral hit a home run off Scott Bankhead. Jack McDowell started for the Yankees, and Randy Velarde and Dion James hit home runs for them.

Yes, Jeter went 0-for-5 in his big-league debut. If 0-for-4 is "the horse collar" (or just "the collar"), then 0-for-5 is "the collar plus one." Only 18,948 fans saw it, having no idea that they were watching the beginning of a legend.

Mariano Rivera had made his major league debut on May 23. Andy Pettitte had made his on April 29. Jorge Posada went on to make his on September 4. And that was the Core Four.

The next day, May 30, Jeter led off the top of the 5th, against Tim Belcher, and hit a ground ball through the hole for a single to left field, the 1st hit of what turned out to be 3,465.

Think about that total for a moment: Only 5 human beings who have ever lived have collected more major-league hits than Jeter: Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Tris Speaker. With Rose's death last September, Derek Jeter has more hits than any living person.

He has also reached the postseason more times than any other player, 17 times. He played on 7 Pennant winners and 5 World Championships, easily more than any active player. He was voted onto 14 American League All-Star Teams. He was the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, and while he was never awarded the Most Valuable Player, he finished in the top 10 in the voting 8 times, and in the top 3 on 3 occasions. He was truly robbed of the MVP in 1999 and 2009, and possibly in 2006. Contrary to the opinions of people who hate the Yankees, he was a great defensive shortstop, winning 5 Gold Gloves.

Derek Jeter surpassed Cal Ripken Jr. as the greatest shortstop in AL history, and is behind only Honus Wagner among all-time shortstops. No, Ernie Banks isn't ahead of him. Neither is Luke Appling, nor Luis Aparicio. Remember the debate about whether Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez were better? Well, now, nobody remembers A-Rod as a shortstop anyway (and who would want to put him ahead of Jeter, knowing what we now know?), and Nomar's career flamed out due to injury and diva behavior.

In 2017, the Yankees retired Jeter's Number 2, and dedicated a Plaque for him in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. In 2020, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 1st year of eligibility: Out of 397 voters, he got 396 votes. The one writer who voted against him has never been publicly identified, nor has he ever, even anonymously, divulged his reason. In 2022, ESPN named its 100 Greatest Baseball Players. They ranked Jeter 28th.