Eleventh Anniversary of an Iconic Play That Never Happened

Major League Baseball's marketing department is enjoying 24-hour erections today; the 11th anniversary of Derek Jeter's storybook dive into the stands to catch a foul ball. Why not roll out the video and let every boy and girl see how Captain America saved the day against the arch enemy Red Sox on July 1, 2004.

And so here's the story and video.

Oh wait, here's why not: he didn't actually dive into the stands for the ball. And now you've shown the video proof of him not diving into the stands for a ball that he actually caught in fair territory. A nice catch to be sure, but not really all that noteworthy, except that if we can gloss over the facts and believe hard enough it burnishes Jeter's fairy tale reputation as the Golden Boy. So showing the video unravels the legend, which has lived on in our hearts and seeped into our minds for over a decade. That's why not. Oops.

Except, MLB has nothing to fear, because America will continue to watch the video with its heart and not its eyes, and will continue to remember this catch as something it's not, evidence be damned. 

Here's something many people fail to credit to the great Yankee captain: that very year, under his legendary leadership, the Bronx Bombers authored the most spectacular collapse in baseball playoff history, gakking up a 3-0 AL Championship Series lead to the Sox. Now there's an accomplishment that Jeter admirers can truly claim as uniquely their hero's. 

While you were revisiting the catch, did you notice the little side paean to Jeter just below, the clip of him juking Jason Kipnis into a double play. What a great, heads-up play by the Yankee immortal. 

I wonder what we'd be calling that move if Alex Rodriguez had done it. "Cheap?" "Petty?" "Low class?" "Minor league?" "Phony?" Weren't those the words used when ARod called for a popup while running the bases? What's the difference between faking out a runner and faking out a fielder?

Finally, let's circle back to the enraptured MLB marketing department, which might, next time they need some hagiography written on the site, consider hiring a writer with an expertise in, you know, vocabulary. 

The story written by Chris Landers contends Jeter "leaped" into the stands. There was no leaping of any kind, stands-ward or otherwise, except perhaps by victorious Yankees after John Flaherty's winning hit. Leaping involves a vector opposite that of diving, which is what Jeter did, into the stands, 15 feet after catching the ball, in fair territory, in a game in July.