10 Reasons You Can Still Hate Derek Jeter

Now don't get me wrong: I have the utmost respect for New York Yankees legendary shortstop Derek Jeter. This is not a trolling piece. But that doesn't mean the way people admire him—Yanks fans in general—is always well-deserved.

He has been one of the most recognized players in baseball over the past 20 years, and as Jeter walks off the field for the final time this weekend, there are still some things that baseball fans everywhere should hate about The Captain.

And since there are always going to be haters, here's a list of 10 reasons why it's OK to knock No. 2—no matter how big his legacy is.

His One-Year Retirement Tour

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Derek Jeter isn't the first player to give himself a yearlong retirement tour—Chipper Jones and Mariano Rivera did it before him—and he certainly will not be the last.

But, for some reason, Jeter's just seems to rub me the wrong way in comparison to those two.

Maybe it's because, outside of New York, Jeter isn't as beloved. Or that this has been anticlimactic following a lost season in 2013 when Jeter should have walked away for good.

I can't help but think about this year's All-Star Game, when National League starting pitcher Adam Wainwright all but lobbed—presumably—a meatball for Jeter to slap down the right field line for a hit, causing some rumblings among media members.

The fact that reporters couldn't believe that Jeter, at the sprite old age of 40, could get around to hit that off Wainwright is enough evidence that this whole retirement tour was about a year too late.

Oh yeah, and lest we forget that Jeter, who has struggled all season long, has never once asked his manager Joe Girardi to drop him in the order to replace him with someone else for the good of the team, which, who knows, may have helped the Yanks win a few more games and make a run at the postseason.

O Captain, my Captain—way to lead.

His Secrecy

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Unlike other athletes who boast and post things all over social media, Derek Jeter does the exact opposite, avoiding the limelight at all costs—and it drives me crazy.

Dude, you're supposed to be the biggest playboy in sports since Wilt Chamberlain, dating ladies whom any of us normal guys would do bad things to just spend a few hours with, but you won't let us know what it's like?

We want our athletes to be a little bit social, yet Jeter refuses to allow us into his private world.

Go ahead and defend that by saying it's refreshing or that it's his personal choice, but part of what makes Jeter such an icon is that none of us really know the truth on his dirt. That, unfortunately, has helped him maintain such a public liking.

Nicely played, Jeter—but I still hate you for it.

The Whole "Mr Clutch" Thing

JULIE JACOBSON/Associated Press

As I'll point out a number of times throughout this piece, Derek Jeter is one of the most recognized players in the game, but the reason for so many fans hating on him has stemmed from him being overrated.

And if you need more stats to back that up, look no further than Keith Olbermann's segment from his show the other day.

Another example, though? His postseason stats.

While Jeter is known as Mr. November because of his homer in the 2001 Fall Classic that won Game 4 for the Yanks they still lost the series—when looking at The Captain's playoff numbers, they aren't as great as you may think.

Over the course of 16 years, the .308 average is tremendous, but dig deeper and you'll see plenty of struggles.

Take, for instance, the 12 series in which he has batted .250 or less.

Or, excluding that homer in 2001's World Series, he only had three other hits in 26 different plate appearances.

Jeter came up big at times, but it's a little bit inflated when looking at the cold, hard stats.

The Tribute Commercials

Is the guy dying or just retiring?

Honestly, as incredible as the tribute commercials that Gatorade and Jordan have put out to remember Derek Jeter, aren't they a little much for a guy who has won just one World Series in the past 14 seasons?

Don't get me wrong: Jeter is a winner and one of the most recognized players in the past 20 years, but isn't he just a benefactor of playing in the limelight of New York more than anything?

I mean, in looking at Jeter's stats compared to someone like recently retired former Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton, they actually don't stack up at all in terms of production.

While Helton never won a World Series, he did finish in the top 20 in the NL MVP voting five straight years, made five All-Star teams and just completed a 17-year career in which he batted .316 and belted 369 homers for one team.

Where were all of the tribute commercials and commemorative patches on the side of his teammates' hats for Helton last year?

His (Non) Home Run in 1996

The 1996 New York Yankees won 92 regular-season games and, eventually, their first World Series since 1978, but there's one major flaw with how they did it—some kid named Jeffrey Maier.

If you're old enough to remember him, Maier is the Yankees fan who reached out over the right field wall and snatched Jeter's first-ever postseason home run literally right in front of Baltimore Orioles player Tony Tarasco—who appeared to have a play on the ball.

Going ballistic and protesting as hard as they could, the O's couldn't convince the umps to reverse the call, which gave Jeter his first memorable, postseason moment—which should have never actually happened—and built a legacy for the then rookie.

He Nearly Breaks Up Families

What would a foul ball hit by Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium during one of his last homestands mean to a mom and dad?

Apparently, a heck of a lot, because they literally went from exuberance to devastation in a matter of seconds.

Following a ball being tossed his way, the dad of two young daughters immediately started posing and snapping pictures with it, with the entire section sharing in his excitement.

Yet, when his oldest daughter—who still appears to be no older than five—gets a hold of the thing, she tosses it back as if she's Henry Rowengartner from the movie Rookie of the Year.

Thankfully, the ball boy who retrieved the ball did the right thing and held onto it in order to give it back to them, but that young girl nearly saw all of her Christmas presents for the next decade disappear for unknowingly tossing the ball back.

The $59 Million Earned over the Past Four Seasons

Brian Blanco/Associated Press

OK, so maybe this should just focus more on the past two seasons—or lack thereof—that Derek Jeter has played. He batted .223 with five homers, 53 RBI and a .296 OBP in 158 games in that time yet still earned $29 million.

Making the All-Star team this year was a complete joke. Signing that four-year, $59 million deal back in 2010 was a bigger joke. And the fact that Jeter did it without even hinting at taking more of a pay cut to help the Yanks get some financial flexibility to sign other players was a complete joke.

Just as the LA Lakers did by committing $48.5 million over two years to Kobe Bryant—even though he's damaged goods at this point—Jeter got that loyalty check, with New York paying him for all he had done and not what he was going to do.

That should make us all pretty bitter.

He's Making It Impossible for the Next Yankees Shortstop

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Although he's currently starting at second base for the Yankees, Stephen Drew is technically listed as the backup to Derek Jeter on the depth chart—which, if you're Drew, has to be the last position he wants to be in.

Sure, the possibility of being tabbed as a starting shortstop for a major league team has to be a great feeling, but not when the guy who played there before you happened to do so for 20 straight seasons and is admired as arguably the greatest Yankees player ever.

As other athletes have found out, replacing a legend isn't easy, so whether it's Drew or someone else, Jeter made it next to impossible for that guy to have an easy transition.

Could he have helped by allowing Drew to get situated at short a few games? Probably. Or he could have backed his teammate a little bit more by declaring to the press that Drew is more than capable of holding his own at the position as a former hot prospect who has enjoyed solid seasons in the past.

That may still happen, but as of right now, Jeter is making it next to impossible for Drew or someone else to replace him next season and beyond.

That Darn Flip

I totally understand why so many people thought that the backhanded flip that Jeter pulled off against the Oakland Athletics in 2001 was so extraordinary.

What I don't understand, though, is why people are still treating it as if it was one of the best plays in postseason history, some 13 years later.

Sure, Jeter's instincts to be at that exact position to field an errant throw by Yanks right fielder Shane Spencer were spot on, but this came during Game 3 of the divisional series, not Game 7 of the World Series!

In fact, the biggest play of that entire postseason—Luis Gonzalez's walk-off single against the Yankees and Mariano Rivera—probably doesn't even get as much pub as Jeter's flip.

That's too bad, because Gonzalez's play clinched a World Series title.

All of His Past Girlfriends

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It's absolutely no secret that Derek Jeter is arguably the biggest ladies man in sports right now.

Some of his past girlfriends include Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba and, my personal favorite, Minka Kelly—who is still in my top-five rotating celeb girls at this moment.

Some may be jealous of all of the fanfare The Captain gets and his five World Series rings, but the real reason everyone should still dislike Jeter? The fact that he was able to score all of these sexy ladies.

For that, I don't know if I'm impressed or just upset for the opportunities he had.

Do I hate Jeter for his past girlfriends, the money he has earned in recent years or the general adoration that he gets—even if he's a bit overrated? Not necessarily.

But when looking at the facts, maybe I—along with other fans—should think about it more.