Jeter's Yankee Stadium finale not how it should have ended

Last night, Derek Jeter broke firmly established himself not only as one of the top Yankees of all time, but perhaps even the best. Jeter's rank in all-time Yankee lore will be a topic of conversation for many years to come; as he has to the tops of rankings in numerous categories in New York history, so too will his records be broken by the next great Yankee. And when that day comes, we will be able to revisit and appreciate his current accomplishments.

One record that has absolutely no chance of being broken is Jeter's hit total and the famed Cathedral of Baseball, Yankee Stadium. When those hallowed walls are torn down, so too will the chance of Jeter being surpassed in at least one category; and in the place of arguably the greatest sports stadium ever in American history - if not world history - the records of that great ballpark will forever be cemented.

There is no doubt that Jeter will one day be enshrined in Cooperstown and his retired jersey will adorn New Yankee Stadium, but in the last few days of the original stadium, Jeter's final accomplishments there will not have received the attention they rightfully deserve.

The final year of baseball in Yankee Stadium has been a complete disaster, leaving many scratching their heads and asking how this could possibly happen to a team with so much talent, potential, and payroll. Because of this Yankee collapse, everything happening at Yankee stadium in the last games ever played there has been completely overshadowed. The baseball viewing public has turned all of their attention to the other fantastic stories around baseball, and rightfully so. There is no reason to keep the Yankees as the lead in newspapers and SportsCenter when the Mets and Phillies are immersed in a playoff battle that seems destined to have an ending eerily similar to the end of the 2007 season, when Manny Ramirez is leading the up-start Dodgers to a playoff birth and quite possibly a World Series birth as well, and when the Cubs appear to be on their way to ending a 100 year championship drought.

Sadly, amongst all this fantastic baseball action, Jeter's accomplishment is but a blip on the baseball radar screen. If the Yankees were about to enter their 14th consecutive postseason, then Jeter's hits the other night would have meant more than what they did and would be in their rightful spot in the minds of everyone: the forefront. Although the Yankees are considered "The Evil Empire", no on can deny their long, illustrious history and what they have meant to baseball. This latest addition to the history books, however, will be lost in the shuffle.

Even though some predict that the Yankees will be back to their true form next season, both in on-field performance and off season spending, it will never make up for how the team said goodbye to The House That Ruth Built. Even if the Yankees never miss the playoffs again, the demolition of Yankee Stadium will forever be associated with a season of mediocrity and underachievement. The final days of Yankee Stadium deserved so much more.

Quite simply, it shouldn't have ended this way.