I'm sure everyone's heard, Derrick will be hanging up the spikes after 2014. No one can escape the grips of "father time." I will miss his amazing plays, the clutch at bats and his command of the game. But what I'm really going to miss is his unblemished character. How many super-stars fall from grace with scandals? Too many to count. Mr. Jeter never succumbed to the temptations that come with the trappings of money. No, he remained the same man/player who entered the league in 1995: passionate, cool and confident. Many of my friends didn't like Jeter because they said he came across as cocky. I disagreed vehemently. Since when did supreme confidence become cocky? He knew what the team expected from him. He knew what the fans and players expected him to do. But more important, he knew what he himself required of himself: perfection, plain and simple. He never stepped on the field, dogging it. He never came to the plate looking for an easy walk. He never played soft in the infield. No. He came and played every pitch of every inning, no matter the weather, every day. Yes, baseball is losing a great player and athlete, but more important, they are losing one of the greatest ambassadors the game has known since, Stan Musial and Lou Gehrig.

Mr. Jeter, thank you for showing the youth of America how the game is to be played