The Night Derek Jeter "Flipped" Off the A's

Today I’m taking you back to Game 3 of the 2001 AL Divisional Series against the A’s when, with the Yankees facing elimination in Oakland, Derek Jeter made one of the most iconic plays of his 20-year career, the one we all refer to as “The Flip.” Let’s get to it.

OAKLAND (Oct. 13, 2001) - The most prevalent question that was asked of Derek Jeter after he had played an enormous role in saving the Yankees season was this: What the hell were you doing there?

It was not a stupid question. Most shortstops would have been nowhere near the first-base line at Network Associates Coliseum in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 3 of New York’s divisional round series against the A’s when Oakland’s Jeremy Giambi was steaming around third base and heading for home with the tying run.

Of course, Jeter was not just any shortstop, although one knucklehead Hall of Famer voter disagreed and was the only person standing between Jeter’s unanimous election to Cooperstown a few years ago.

Sensing something might go awry on the relay from right field, Jeter cruised into unfamiliar territory when Oakland’s Terrence Long lashed a Mike Mussina pitch into the right-field corner. Sure enough, Yankees right-fielder Shane Spencer missed two cutoff men and as the ball entered no man’s land it was a mortal lock that Giambi was going to score.

Instead, there was Jeter to corral it about 30 feet from home plate and then flip the ball backhanded like a college quarterback on an option pitch out. Jorge Posada caught it and with Giambi deciding not to slide, he presented a nice big target for Posada to swipe the tag, just catching his leg before he touched home plate.

Out.

“I was watching the right fielder and the runner,’’ Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “But then here came Derek Jeter to save the day.’’

How many times did Cashman, anyone else in the Yankee organization, or any Yankee fan, say that during Jeter’s 20-year career?

In the other clubhouse, Cashman’s contemporary, A’s GM Billy Beane, thought of the football analogy when he was asked if he’d ever seen a pitch like that.

“Yeah, to a running back, maybe,’’ Beane said. “I mean, this is not something you practice in March – in the third game of the division series, being the third cutoff man and turn around and flip to the plate. That’s just an instinctual play.’’

When Jeter went into the Hall of Fame, there were a gazillion stories written about his career, and on every list of his greatest plays, this one was either first, second or third greatest, and rightly so. Without it, the Yankees - who were down two games to none and facing elimination - probably don’t win a fourth straight AL pennant and they may very well have been flying home to New York a couple hours later, swept out of the first-round series by the A’s.

“I was just doing my job,’’ Jeter said. “I see the third base coach waving the guy in and I’ve got to get over there and back up the cutoff man. And once I got the ball I had to get it to Jorge any way I could. You don’t celebrate a play like that. We got into the dugout and it was time to start thinking about getting some runs. We only had one at the time.’’

The Yankees never scored again. Posada’s fifth-inning homer off Barry Zito provided the only run New York needed in the 1-0 victory because Jeter, as Cashman said, saved the day.

“He was there and he made a sensational play,’’ Joe Torre said nonchalantly because he had seen Jeter do so many amazing things. “We like a more conventional throw, but he was in a position where we had no choice. But that’s one of the plays he has to read.’’

Third baseman Scott Brosius watched the whole thing from his post because Long was headed his way and he said, “Just because you say the guy is supposed to be there doesn’t mean he’s going to do what Derek did. You still have to get there and do it.’’

Spencer was in right field because of a platoon switch with the lefty Zito on the mound for Oakland and Paul O’Neill, a lefty swinger who would retire at season’s end, struggling in the series. Giambi was on first with a two-out single when Long drove a 2-2 pitch down the line. Spencer fielded the ball cleanly before it got to the wall, but with Giambi running on contact, Spencer tried to hurry his throw.

“I’m looking up and I see Sorie (second baseman Alfonso Soriano),’’ Spencer said. “I didn’t even see Tino (Martinez) behind him. I wanted to get it back as soon as I could and I wound up putting too much heat on it and I overshot both of them. At that point I’m just hoping it gets to the plate.’’

It did, with a little help, and officially the putout went 9-6-2. Yeah, you don’t see that one all too frequently.

Lost in the hurricane of that play was the game Mussina pitched. On a night when Zito gave up only the one run on two hits, Mussina threw seven four-hit shutout innings before Mariano Rivera came on for a six-out save. Still, Mussina had to cede the limelight to Jeter.

“There are players in this league, in baseball, when you play with them every day, you get to see what they come up with,” said Mussina. “It can be as simple as running the bases or the play he made today.”

“The guy has instincts,’’ said veteran backup infielder Luis Sojo who was not on the 25-man roster for the series but was in Oakland with the team. “I’m in the clubhouse watching it on TV and I see the ball go over Tino. I say, ‘oh shit.’ Then I see Derek and I say, ‘Where the hell did he come from?’ No, I haven’t seen a shortstop make a play like that in a long time.’’

Long time? Sojo thought about that for a second then corrected himself. “I haven’t seen a shortstop do that ever.’’