The Pecan Park Eagle

When Derek Jeter of the  New ¥ork ¥ankees checked into Major League Baseball’s “Mr. 3,000 Club” back on July 9, 2011, he became both the twenty-eighth member of the society, but only the second man to turn the elite group’s “members only” door with a home run. A current HBO documentary, “Derek Jeter 3K”, chronicles the stress that reaching this significant and widely revered baseball plateau can place upon an individual player, even upon a “cool-as-a-cucumber” guy like the Jeter-Man.

Heck! All Jeter had to do was get enough hits to go where no other great Yankees before him had ever gone. Not Babe Ruth. Not Lou Gehrig. Not Joe DiMaggio. Not Mickey Mantle.

Whoa! – None of these other 100% pure Yankee Immortals ever got there with 3,000 Yankee hits – and here was little Derek Jeter from New Jersey,  by way of Michigan – beating on the golden door of an unimaginable other-level  immortality as the only pure New York Yankee member of the club.

WOW! – Just think about that a minute and what it means. The most recent other new member prior to the Jeter-Yankee breakthrough was Craig Biggio in 2007. – Our Texas boondocks-moored Houston Astros reached the gates of the “Mr. 3,000” club a full four years ahead of the New York Yankees. Biggio collected his 3,000th hit, a single that died when Biggio tried to stretch his landmark hit into a persona; trademark double, did the deal at Minute Maid Park in Houston on June 28, 2007 – a full four years and eleven days prior to Jeter’s accomplishment of same.

What follows is the complete list, although the numbers for its only active playing member, Jeter, could be different by this time tomorrow.On the morning of Friday, July 29, 2011, is in 25th place with 3,017 hits, but only three hits back of Wade Boggs, the only other man to reach the peak with a homer.

The Mr. 3,000 Club shows each player by his rank on the list, his name, hit totals, career batting average, and the team in played for on the day he reached 3.000:

(1) Pete Rose (4,256) (.303) Cincinnati Reds

(2) Ty Cobb (4,191) (.367) Detroit Tigers

(3) Hank Aaron (3,771 (.305) Atlanta Braves

(4) Stan Musial (3.630) (.331) St. Louis Cardinals

(5) Tris Speaker (3,514) (.345) Cleveland Indians

(6) Carl Yastrzemski (3,419) (.285) Boston Red Sox

(7) Cap Anson (3,418) (.334) Chicago Colts

(8) Honus Wagner (3,415) (.328) Pittsburgh Pirates

(9) Paul Molitor (3,319) (.306) Minnesota Twins

(10) Eddie Collins (3,315) (.333) Chicago White Sox

(11) Willie Mays (3,283) (.302) San Francisco Giants

(12) Eddie Murray (3,255) (.287) Cleveland Indians

(13) Nap Lajoie  (3,242) (.338) Cleveland Naps

(14) Cal Ripken, Jr. (3,184) (.276) Baltimore Orioles

(15) George Brett (3,154) (.305) Kansas City Royals

(16) Paul Waner (3,152) (.333) Boston Braves

(17) Robin Yount (3,142) (.285) Milwaukee Brewers

(18) Tony Gwynn (3,141) (.338) San DIego Padres

(19) Dave Winfield (3,110) (,283) Minnesota Twins

(20) Craig Biggio (3,060) (.281) Houston Astros

(21) Rickey Henderson (3,055) (.279) San Diego Padres

(22) Rod Carew (3,053) (.328) California Angels

(23) Lou Brock (3,023) (,293) St. Louis Cardinals

(24) Rafael Palmeiro (3,020) (.288) Baltimore Orioles

(25) Derek Jeter (3,017) (.313) New York Yankees *

(26) Wade Boggs (3,010) (.328) Tampa Bay Devil Rays

(27) Al Kaline (3,007) (.297) Detroit Tigers

(28) Roberto Clemente (3,000) (.317) Pittsburgh Pirates

* Derek Jeter is the only active player on the list. His 3,017 career hits to date is virtually certain to change. Craig Biggio has been retired since the end of the 2007 season and will soon be eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame with the exception of Jeter and Biggio, most of the rest are already members of the Hall of Fame, (1) Pete Rose is not in the Hall because of his involvement in gambling on baseball and then lying about it for over twenty years,  (24) Rafael Palmeiro is one of those players who is currently held in prejudice from the HOF honor due to his tainted, even if alleged, involvement in the steroids era scandal.