Jeter passes Mantle

and moves into 3rd place on the Yankees all-time hit total. His hit, number 2,416 for his career put him in 3rd place all-time among Yankees. The Captain now trails only Lou Gehrig (2,721) and Babe Ruth (2,518.)

We can expect Jeter to pass the Babe in a couple of months, and the Iron Horse around the middle of next year. Jeter turns 34 this month, so we can reasonably expect him to play another 4 or 5 years. Lost in the accolades of joining the ranks of all-time Yankee greats, is that Jeter is very close to cracking the list of all-time MLB hitters.

He is just a dozen hits away from being #100. And once he makes that list, he should move up quickly. It is reasonable to assume he will get another 100 hits this year. This should put him into the low 80's, and possibly even into the 70's.

If Jeter can play until age 40, and keep knocking out 150 hits per year, he will easily move into the rarified air of 3000 hits, and, into the top 20 of all-time batters. Considering that a typical year for him is closer to 200 hits per year, he could move into the 3000 club much sooner.

And everyone thought A-Rod was the only first ballot Hall of Famer on this squad.