Written by Joel Sherman at New York Daily Post.com
Derek Jeter will have his number retired Sunday night, the Yankee Stadium ceremony recognizing — of course — the sixth-most hits in major league history and five championships and all the other elements that formed a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
But the love he will receive on Mother’s Day will have as much to do with the man as the player, an appreciation that Jeter stayed lunch pail- and team-oriented and grounded despite having so much thrown at him so young in the biggest city in the world.
One of the most famous attendees for Jeter’s farewell game at the Stadium, Sept. 25, 2014, wrote on his Instagram account that day: “Tonight is about #RE2PECT!! Saying farewell and paying the man this game has been blessed to have! A childhood idol and it’s now an honor to call a friend!!! #derekjeter”
That was Matt Harvey, who on the Sunday before Mother’s Day 2017 was revealed to have been suspended for three games by his team because the Mets had finally reached a breaking point over a player who has forgotten his lunch pail, forsaken the team-oriented concept and continued to succumb to all the allure and distractions the biggest city in the world can bring the young and famous.
Of course, the Mets are to be blamed here as well, co-conspirators as enablers in this relationship. All the clues were there on Sept. 25, 2014.
Harvey had just completed his Tommy John rehab that began with him balking at club demands that he do it all in St. Lucie, when he wanted to be in New York. The half-measure the club relented to was Harvey would work in New York when the Mets were home, Florida when they weren’t.
The Mets weren’t home that night, they were in Washington playing simultaneously while their most famous teammate was in, of all things, Yankee Stadium, wearing a Knicks cap and all but bragging about it on social media. The Mets mainly gritted their teeth with no comments, Sandy Alderson got off a quip about “selfies” and no one from the organization publicly rebuked Harvey for anything from bad optics to bad employment.
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