Globe photographers have been documenting all the great moments in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, and for the past 20 years that means Derek Jeter showed up in a lot of the shots.
Here’s a look, with a bit of insight from some of the photographers, of some of the best Derek Jeter photos by Globe staff photographers.
Jim Davis
“Especially later in his career, from a photographer’s point of view, when covering a Red Sox-Yankees game, Jeter was a must-follow. For example, usually when I am covering a game I usually focus on the Red Sox players when they are at bat and when the opposition is at the plate, depending on the stage of the game, I will usually pick out a Red Sox defender to focus on in anticipation of a ball being hit their way.
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“But with a player like Jeter, you tended to stay on him when he was at the plate, partly because of his abilities in the clutch, and partly because he was such a star that if anything happened to him at the plate, for example being hit by a pitch, it could become a story and the photo would be needed.”
“From a personal point of view, it used to drive me crazy when he would step out of the box after every pitch, then step back in and hold up one hand to the umpire as if to say “I’ll let you know when I am ready”.
“Baseball can be slow enough, just stay in the box and be ready! Obviously that is not just on Jeter, many players do similar things, but if Tom Werner and his committee want to speed up the game, that would be as good a place as any to start!”
Barry Chin
This is Barry’s favorite photo of Jeter, who appeared with Jason Giambi, Alfonso Soriano, and Bernie Williams during the team’s introduction in Game 1 of the 2003 ALCS in New York’s old Yankee Stadium. The photo is part of the Cooperstown Hall of Fame Collection.
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Stan Grossfeld
Stan is noted for getting unusual angles or capturing significant moments. He shot THE STEAL, one of the most famous moments in Boston sports lore.
Said Grossfeld: “It was past midnight and the Red Sox were down a run and three outs from elimination. With Mariano Rivera coming in to pitch, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know things are not looking good here. So I scampered from my position up high above first base to an aisle in left field where I wasn’t blocking anybody’s view.
“I figured the painful money shot would be Mariano leaping up with the Sox dugout in the backround. But Dave Roberts had other ideas. So what I thought was the death of the Sox, turned out to be the 1/500th of a second of the beginning of the end of the Curse. Jeter slapped the tag down quick, but Roberts was definetely safe and the rest is history.
“If you don’t like Jeter, you don’t like baseball, but this picture is not about him. It’s about an 86-year-old drought thundering to an end.”
Matthew J. Lee
When the dust settles on the 2014 season, Jeter will have played more games against the Red Sox than any opponent, and he’ll have a career batting average near .300 vs. the Red Sox. In Fenway Park, his average is around .265.
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Matt explains his inspiratrion for the shot below, taken in August.
“I’ve been covering MLB since 1987, and although I’m not a Yankee fan, I am a fan of great athletes, which is a category I would place Derek Jeter. Jeter is a player who always signs his autograph before games at Fenway Park (even for Red Sox fans). What a class act,” Lee said. “Knowing that it would be my last chance to photograph Jeter as an active player I wanted to get his picture in the batters box before his first at-bat. I always remembered the iconic Pulitzer Prize winning image of Babe Ruth’s last game walking up to the plate and wanted to make an image of the modern Yankee great.”
Follow Matt Pepin on Twitter at @mattpep15.