I’m a life-long Red Sox fan who can’t manage to hate a great Yankee, Derek Jeter. My admiration was sealed during one play in the 2001 playoffs against the moneyball Oakland A’s. With the game tied, a runner on second and the series on the line, the A’s slashed a base hit to right field. As the runner rounded third, the Yankee right fielder scooped the ball and made a weak, off-line throw to the plate. Seemingly out of nowhere, Jeter appeared on the first base line, intercepted the dying throw and, as if snap-turning a double play, shovel-flipped it to the Yankee catcher just in time to tag the runner out. I’d never seen a shortstop do that before or since. It has become his signature play known as “The Iconic Flip.”
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