Derek Jeter will play this weekend against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the final three games of his 20-year Hall-of-Fame career. But he won't play shortstop, the only position in the field the New York Yankees legend has ever known in the big leagues.
"I've only played shortstop my entire career and the last game I wanted to play there is tonight," Jeter told reporters after Thursday night's game.
Jeter went out in style on Thursday night, delivering the walk-off single to win his final career game at Yankee Stadium. It was almost too perfect a moment to end a career, but the Yankees still have three games remaining on their schedule. On the road, in Boston.
"I'll play in some capacity [in Boston]," Jeter told Tom Verducci on MLB Network after the game.
In a rare show of emotion after Thursday night's win, the normally stoic Jeter opened up in a series of postgame interviews.
"This year has been difficult. You almost feel as if you're watching you're own funeral. ... People are giving you well wishes as if you're about to die," Jeter said. "I've appreciated it all, but internally it feels as if part of you is dying, and I guess that's true on the baseball side because it's over with.
"This is all I ever wanted to do and not too many people get an opportunity to do it. It was above and beyond anything I ever dreamt of. I've lived a dream, since I was four-five years old, and part of that dream is over now."
Jeter will likely be designated hitter in any games he starts this weekend in Boston. In his career, he has played 2,673 games at shortstop, 71 at designated hitter, eight as a pinch hitter and one more as a pinch runner.
He said he didn't make the decision to make Thursday his final game at shortstop until after the Yankees were officially eliminated from the postseason on Wednesday. On Thursday, after the walk-off celebration, with players and reporters mulling around on the field in foul territory, Jeter walked back out to shortstop one more time.
"I wanted to take one last view from short," Jeter explained.