How much is enough? (or “Enough is enough”)

Because you can put all this Derek Jeter memorabilia on your bookshelf…

Yesterday I came across this piece on ESPN: “Yankees to wear Derek Jeter patch.”

There was a lot of social media chatter about the appropriateness of this gesture. Sports fans debated whether an active player should be honored like this. Such tributes usually occur after a player or figure connected with the team has died. Paul Lukas over at the Uniwatch site wrote “I still think it’s unseemly and inappropriate to wear a patch for an active player, and even more so for Jeter to wear a patch honoring himself.…”

In the aggregate, I have no opinion pro or con. Yes, Derek Jeter is the face of the Yankees (for whatever that’s worth) and has been a tremendous part of the game for some 20 years. I leave it to the sabermetricians to debate his numbers and his fielding prowess, or lack thereof. You’re always going to have haters and I am not going to be one of them.

What bothered me more was the accounting of how much Derek Jeter memorabilia is being put on sale.

From the ESPN article:

… baseballs with Jeter logos that will be put in play on Sept. 7, and the uniforms used in the game and throughout the rest of the season will be sold by Steiner Sports, company president Brandon Steiner said.

Steiner also has an exclusive autograph deal with Jeter and has been selling more than 200 Jeter-signed products, including game-used jerseys that retail for $25,000. (Emphasis added.)

Leading up to Jeter’s final games, an even greater flow of merchandise has hit the shelves. New Era is selling a three-cap box of Jeter hats for $150. The hats, which are available only at Yankee Stadium and official Yankees stores, are limited to 2,014 sets.

Steiner is the sole distributor of Jeter merchandise.

I thought it a bit odd that Jeter announced that this would be his last season way back in spring training. It was practically demanding the lovefest that has ensued as the future Hall of Famer makes his last visit to the various ballparks and his opponents pay tribute. It was also a way to start the gravy train early, with Steiner offering various limited-edition Jeter collectibles.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Jeter has earned over $251 million over his career, and that doesn’t count endorsements, which I imagine added several tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) more. Far be it for me to say how much someone should get paid, but I find this whole Steiner business bothersome.

Where is all this dough going, I asked on various outlets? Unless I missed it, there hasn’t been any indication that some percentage of it is going to Jeter’s admirable foundation or elsewhere. If he’s being quiet/modest about it, I think it’s the wrong move because right now this just appears to be a money grab. It reminded me of another Yankee great, Joe DiMaggio, who tried to make as much money off his name as possible. But he can almost be forgiven because ballplayers made so much less in his time.

I have a feeling this is going to actually stir up an anti-Jeter backlash to the point where an announcement will be made about some charitable component.