I can't actually believe you fux are belittling the streak of Ripken. He went out there every day, and to say he did it out of selfish motivation is just ******* STUPID. Comparing Ripken and his streak to Jeter and his inability to be an even below-average shortstop is just ******* pure comedy. Especially when it comes from Mike, who continually belittled Miguel Cabrera's ability to play third. Cabby was a better third baseman than Jeter was a shortstop, and they both had terrible range, only Jeter's lack of range was more glaring due to the fact he was at ******* SHORTSTOP!!! Your argument doesn't hold water fellas...Jeter is a selfish *****, who will only give up SS when he retires. Ripken was the CONSUMATE TEAM PLAYER, and doesn't deserve your bullshit accusations that he was selfish. Do you idiots really think he kept going out there when he KNEW he was hurting his team? Methinks NOT!!! Jeter couldn't give a flying **** about his "team", cuz if he did he'd have been playing second or left field five ******* years ago. Sure, he wants to win, but he has continually let his ego get in the way of the "best" thing for the Yankees, which would have been getting a REAL SHORTSTOP and moving Jeter to left, where his glove wouldn't have mattered much, with Cano at second and MARIO ******* MENDOZA at shortstop. "Past The Diving Jeter" didn't end up a catch-phrase for nothing.......

LOL.  You're a 'tard.

Ripken went out there every day because he was a consumate team player.
Jeter goes out there because he's a selfish *****.

Dumbass. 

Looks like somebody's been drinking the Cal Ripken Jr. Kool Aid.

Drinking something. 

Anyone who followed baseball KNOWS that "the streak" was bigger than Baltimore baseball.   It was bigger than Ripken.   He could have easily sat a day here or there and put the Orioles first.   He didn't.   And no one had the clout to say "I think you need a day off, Cal".

Exactly.  Kind of like how nobody at ABC was going to tell Dick Clark that he shouldn't host the New Year's Eve show after he had his stroke.

And, quite frankly, no one has the clout to say "Hey, Derek, how about give 2B a shot."      Cashman knew this 4 years ago.   That's why he played hardball, in the press, with Jeter on this last contract.   I don't think he would have been sad at all if Jeter said "**** you.  I'm going to play for the Mets!!!!!"   He knew that Jeter could not be moved off SS by anyone in the organization.    And, as you saw, they had no one waiting in the wings to take over.

Right now, today, Jeter is the best SS option for the Yankees.

Can't wait for Jeter to be awarded another GG at SS this year.

Yeah, that will be a great parting gift from the writers!

"I played through a herniated disk in 1997 because we were good. And when you go through all those rebuilding processes, and you’re good, it’s important to get in there."

Their everyday 3B was not good. 

.270

.331

.402

Baltimore had a couple of effective utility guys, Ledesma and Walton, in 1997.   But Cal said "I played for all those bad teams.  This one is good.  I'm playing!!!!"

Selfish *****.

If Cal was still active, he'd be taking selfies on the field and posting them to Twitter at the start of each game:

"Look who's in the lineup again tonight!!! #TheStreak #Who'sAwesome #SoFreakinTired #EverythingHurts #I'mOld"

As a CONSUMATE TEAM PLAYER, he'd probably have one of his teammates take his selfies for him. 

Cal to Nick Markakis:  "Hey Nick, would you mind taking a photo of me on my iPhone as I'm running onto the field in the bottom of the first?"

Nick Markakis: "Um, I'd love to Cal, but I'm in right field today and I gotta get out to my position too."

Cal: "GODDAMNIT, MARKAKIS!!!  DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM, AND WHAT I MEAN TO THIS TEAM!!!!"

And this is why Derek Jeter takes so much ****.  Nothing really to do with him and what he can and can't do on the field.  It's all the dumbass Yankees fans who seem to think he's God, the greatest thing since sliced bread.  He always played the game the right way and worked his butt off, and what he's achieved relative to his natural talent level has been incredible.  He deserves to be a Hall of Famer, probably first ballot (he will be, though you could argue that if Alomar needed 2 years, Jeter should too).  But he's not as good as Yankees fans seem to think he is.  Not even close.  And it would have been better for everybody if he moved to LF when A-Rod came in.  I'm sure the Yankees could have moved Matsui to DH and found somebody who can outhit Ruben Sierra to play 3B.