Derek Jeter

Last week, Yankee captain Derek Jeter honored the recently deceased Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and announcer Bob Sheppard.

For that minute-long speech, it was hard not to think back to Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech, as Jeter's statements drew an explosion of applause.

These are the type of moments that transform this player into a captain, this shortstop into a winner, this Yankee into a legend.

Let's take a look at the other moments that have made Derek Jeter seem impeccable.

Once upon a time, Mark Teixeira was hitting below the Mendoza Line with little power and a lot of criticism. However, much has changed since May.

Teixeira is slowly turning his season around, producing the power numbers the Yankees expect, and need, in the middle of their order.

Although his average is still a bit too low (.256 entering Thursday), Texieira is on pace to finish with 30-plus home runs and 100-plus runs batted in.

The first half of the 2010 MLB regular season was like stepping into a 1990's time warp - with usual bottom-feeding teams such as the Cincinatti Reds, Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres leading their respective divisions - but the second half promises to bring a dose of reality back to the normal MLB landscape.  However, it is possible that one of those teams can make a run deep into the playoffs and, if everything goes as planned, should be playing in late October.  Just one of the many reasons why the conclusion of the 2010 MLB regular season guarantees to be one

Of the Yankees’ remaining 74 games of the 2010 regular-season schedule, 13 are against the Tampa Bay Rays. That’s nearly 18% of all remaining games for the Yankees against the rival best team in baseball. The first of those showdowns between the two powerhouses begins today.

For a snapshot of where we are today, July 16, the AL East Standings look like this:

The Bronx Bombers are in first place in the AL East with the best record in baseball heading into the second half of the season, which starts tonight versus the second place Tampa Bay Rays.

But there are several Yankees who aren't in the New York Groove quite yet and need to pick up the slack as the season moves into the second half.

By no means do the Yankees absolutely "need" these players to improve in order to win the division, obviously they are already in first place, but if the Bombers want to see their 28th title come this year, then these players do need to step it up a notch.

When news broke out that Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner had passed Tuesday morning, I predictably got a few texts from friends asking if I was planning on writing about “The Boss.”

At first I hesitated; too much had happened before I was even born. I had never met him in person. What perspective could I possibly give, that a million other writers couldn’t?

The sports world lost a legend today, when former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away at the age of 80.

While he was far from the most well liked figure in sports, you can't argue with his results, as he brought 11 AL Pennants and seven World Series titles to the Yankees, building them into a dynasty in the late 1990s.

Having taken the reigns in 1973, Steinbrenner saw a great numbers of players play under him in over 30 seasons as team owner, and what follows are the 15 best Yankees of the Steinbrenner era.

• Derek Jeter
• Don Mattingly
• George Steinbrenner
• Mariano Rivera
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• New York Yankees
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