Storybook Ending

Jeter Smacks Game-Winning Hit in Farewell

Ends illustrious Yankee Stadium career.

It seemed the perfect script for the final home game of Derek Jeter’s illustrious career with the New York Yankees. The baseball star capped his Yankee Stadium farewell with a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Yankees to a 6-5 victory Thursday night over the Baltimore Orioles. Serenaded with adoring chants that echoed through the Bronx night, the Yankees captain tipped his cap several times at shortstop—and drove in three runs. Jeter launched an early double off the left-center wall and saved the best for last: a sharp, opposite-field single to right that knocked in the winning run. The 40-year-old veteran, who is playing in his 20th and final Major League Baseball season, was elated after the win at the stadium, where other Yankees as well as such former teammates as Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre lined up near the dugout to greet him. “It was above and beyond anything I’ve ever dreamt of,” Jeter said.