Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio...those are just a few names that are stapled into Yankee fans minds as "legends."  We are witnessing a living legend right now in Yankee world, and sadly some may not even realize it.

Derek Jeter is on a list with these legendary players for a lot of reasons.  It is very rare in recent MLB days that a player stays on one team for their entire career.  Jeter is one of these rarities along side teammates Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.

Say all you want about Jeter's current status as a "declining" shortstop.  He is a living Yankee legend.

There are a lot of sad Yankee fans out there that are already about to give up this season because Cliff Lee wasn't signed and Andy Pettitte hasn't been kidnapped.  I, however, am extremely excited for this season.  Why?  Jeter is about to reach a milestone that no other Yankee has EVER reached.  Not Gehrig, not Ruth, not Mantle, not DiMaggio.  Jeter is about to become the first Yankee to hit the 3,000th hit mark.

Jeter is sitting at 2,926 hits; just 74 away from 3,000.  He could reach his milestone as early as June, July the latest.  Jeter pretty much separated himself from the hitter pack in 2009 when he passed Gehrig for the number one seat in all time Yankee hits, but this will separate himself even furthur since no Yankee has ever reached 3,000 hits.

Jeter also sits on other all time Yankee leader lists close to the top.  He is in third in all time runs scored with 1,685 (Ruth 1,959 and Gehrig 1,888), second in all time doubles with 468 (Gehrig 534), and is in second in all time stolen bases with 323, just three SB's behind Ricky Henderson.  Jeter is also 107 games away from playing the more games than Mickey Mantle, who has played the most in franchise history. 

I hope he gets the big hit at a home game, because I want to be able to tell my future children about how I witnessed the great Yankee Derek Jeter separate himself from all Yankee hitters in the history of the franchise.  I want to take them to monument park in the future to show them the Jeter plaque and tell them how amazing it was watching him play every day growing up a Yankee fan.

Derek Jeter may never be considered a "Major League Baseball legend," but he will always be a Yankee legend.  He is a leader and a great player, and when that day comes of his retirement, and when they retire number 2 to monument park, my eyes will be filled with tears.  Tears of joy as I contemplate on all of the years growing up a Yankee fan and watching one of the greatest in the history of the club.

My grandparents had Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, and DiMaggio.  My father had Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson.  I will always have Derek Jeter.