From Spring Training to Post-Season: Derek Jeter Reaches 3,000 Hits!

"Excuse me, Mr. Jeter. Cooperstown is on line 1."

When Derek Jeter hit 2 home runs on Saturday afternoon against the Houston Astros, he picked up his 2825th and 2826th career regular season hits. Of course, the home runs were important because they helped the Javier Vazquez and the New York Yankees win. Otherwise, most people wouldn't care that Jeter picked up a couple more hits.

Actually, those two home runs have a much more noteworthy place in Jeter's career. With having compiled 175 hits in his postseason career and now having hit over 2825 times in his regular season career, Derek Jeter now has more than 3,000 career hits as a major league hitter!

Jeter has played in 28 post season series in his 16 year career. Mr. November has collected 175 postseason hits, which is easily the highest total in Major League Baseball history. Of those hits, 50 of them were extra-base hits. Jeter has always continued to hit after the end of the regular season in September.

While baseball statisticians and historians only count 3,000 regular season hits as the major plateau, 3,000 career total major league hits is pretty special in itself.

It has been a fantastic 16-year career for the captain of the New York Yankees, and now Jeter is less than 174 hits away from joining the real "3,000 hit club". Barring injury and some disastrous slumps, he should easily reach the mark by the middle of the 2011 season.

As he continues to charge his way into baseball history, Derek Jeter can honestly say that he has gotten 3,000 hits as a New York Yankee!