Why Derek Jeter Is Greater Than Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, the story goes, was racing through a railroad car, being chased by a woman with a knife.

"If she catches him," said one of the sports writers, glancing up from his card game, "it would be a heck of a story."

True or not, that anecdote tells a lot about what has changed over the years. Back then, the writers reported on the games, not on personal lives. Today, Ruth and the woman would be front page news, whether or not she caught him. Not only would the writers publish the tale, they could even make it a YouTube moment.

But one thing has stayed the same in the decades since Ruth. Each person makes decisions that add up to his destiny. Derek Jeter's decisions have been much better than Ruth's ever were, and in that sense Jeter is greater than Ruth.

Granted, Jeter never saved baseball, as Ruth may well have done in the wake of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Then again, Jeter never needed to be suspended by his manager, the way Ruth was by Miller Huggins.

A comparison between the two megastars seems especially fitting at baseball's mid-summer break. Ruth hit a home run in the very first All-Star Game. Jeter had two hits in his final one.

For every home run, however, Ruth had a beer, or a hot dog, or a night on the town. He seldom met an excess he didn't like. Jeter has been just the opposite. Playing for two decades in the city where Ruth made his fame, Jeter has lived a life of discipline and focus.

An outrageous quote was never Jeter's style. That's quite a contrast with Ruth, who when asked if he deserved a salary bigger than president Herbert Hoover's, replied, "What the hell has Hoover got to do with it? Besides, I had a better year than he did."

Ruth's lack of discipline left him a sad hanger-on at the end of his career. He yearned to manage, but never got the call. Jeter will be welcome in any organization.

Author Robert Fulgham once advised, "Don't worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they are always watching you."

Playwright William R. Inge said, "The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he’s born."

Put those two quotes together and you wind up with Derek Jeter's legacy.

One hundred years from now, parents and coaches can look to Ruth with awe. But they will point to Jeter and say, "Be like that."

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