BOSTON — Fittingly, Brian Butterfield brought out a pair of boots made by L.L. Bean to give to Derek Jeter.
Fitting because Butterfield, 56, is a Mainer, and those black Bean boots with a Yankees logo were made in Brunswick.
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And fitting because it was Butterfield who put Jeter through a baseball version of boot camp 21 years ago.
Jeter was a 1992 first-round draft pick of the Yankees but was in serious need of defensive coaching. Enter Butterfield, then a Yankees instructor.
“I remember a kid that was very raw, like we see with a lot of young kids out of high school,” Butterfield said before Sunday’s game at Fenway.
Jeter became refined during those intense workouts. And he stayed that way for a long time, finally finishing a Hall of Fame career on Sunday.
To mark the occasion of Jeter’s final game, the Red Sox put on a pregame show that included visits from several former Red Sox stars (Yastrzemski, Petrocelli, Rice, Lynn, Varitek, etc.) and other Boston sports stars (Bobby Orr, Troy Brown and Paul Pierce). All walked out to greet Jeter, who was standing, of course, at the shortstop position.
“Pretty special,” Jeter said. “I didn’t expect that.”
Then came Butterfield. He handed Jeter the boots and they hugged.
Jeter always credits Butterfield for that boot camp back in Tampa, Florida, where Butterfield put Jeter through fielding drills for 35 straight days.
“Five of the most important weeks of my career,” Jeter told the Wall Street Journal about that time.
Butterfield credits Jeter’s attitude.
“The thing that stuck out was his personality and how respectful he was, and how much I enjoyed that time,” Butterfield said. “I went home each day, glowing to my wife about what a great experience it was to be around a kid like that.”
Jeter has that effect.
“He has a respect to the game, with a grace, a dignity and an integrity that is probably unmatched by others,” Red Sox Manager John Farrell said. “He sets the bar by which every young player should aspire to be. That’s a lofty standard.”
Or, as Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said while choking up a little after the game, “It’s been a real pleasure managing a guy who has what you want in every player.”
The Jeter ceremony began with a montage of highlights on the Fenway video board, showcasing the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
The highlights included plenty of Yankee victories and celebrations (which was an improvement over last year’s Mariano Rivera ceremony in which Rivera was roasted for his failures against Boston).
After the former Boston athletes greeted Jeter, the current Red Sox players came out for handshakes, hugs and one selfie (Joe Kelly).
Dustin Pedroia presented Jeter a pinstriped base with a No. 2 on it.
Then it was back to the video board to show Jeter’s participation in the Ice Bucket Challenge for the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Foundation. That was followed by the appearance of Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball player who is suffering from ALS and was the inspiration behind the Ice Bucket Challenge.
As Frates motored out in his wheelchair, Jeter ran onto the infield grass to greet him.
Then David Ortiz and Xander Bogaerts presented Jeter a sign made out of Fenway scoreboard letters and numbers – spelling out “RE2PECT.”
Gospel singer Michelle Brooks Thompson serenaded Jeter with “Respect” (Aretha Franklin style). She tried to walk all the way out to Jeter, but the microphone cord tangled on the infield and she stopped 20 feet short.
The Fenway crowd did not stop applauding Jeter every chance it could. Several Yankees fans were in attendance, and Der-ek Je-ter chants occasionally broke out.
“Been part of a lot of chants at Fenway Park,” Jeter said. “Don’t know if any were good.”
He lined out in the first inning and came up again in the third, with one out and Ichiro Suzuki on third. Jeter hit a high bouncer to third base. Garin Cecchini could not handle it, and likely would not have thrown out Jeter if he did.
An RBI single. Girardi stepped out of the dugout, waiting for a sign from Jeter. He could have stayed in the game to go for one more hit and tie Ty Cobb’s record of 19 straight seasons of at least 150 hits.
“I never played the game for numbers,” Jeter said later.
Girardi sent out Brian McCann to pinch-run for Jeter.
The crowd stood, cheering. Jeter first jogged to the mound to shake Clay Buchholz’s hand.
Why? Because Buchholz wasn’t part of the pregame ceremony; he was warming up in the bullpen. “Told him it was a pleasure competing against him,” Jeter said.
Then he waived his helmet to the crowd and acknowledged the Red Sox dugout – where every player was on his feet, applauding. The ovation continued as he reached his own dugout for a series of hugs from his teammates.
In the seventh inning, Bernie Williams, Jeter’s former teammate, brought out his guitar and led the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
The Yankees fans in attendance loved it. It felt weird to witness Fenway hospitality extended to the Yankees. But that’s the influence Derek Jeter can have – at least once.
“Unbelievable,” Jeter said. “To be a place where we’ve been the enemy for a long, long time, for them to flip the script made me proud to be part of this rivalry.”
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