New York Yankees

Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit today, a home run in fact, and Christian Lopez was the man who caught it.

Tickets to a potentially historic day at Yankee Stadium came courtesy of Lopez's girlfriend, and both her and his father accompanied the cell phone salesman to the ballpark earlier today not knowing that they'd be the ones with a piece of history in their possession.

Derek Jeter recorded his 3000 hit today in style, blasting a solo shot out of the park to tie the game up. The long awaited milestone finally culminated in Yankee Stadium in front of a packed house on a Saturday afternoon, which made it even more perfect. He entered elite company, becoming the 28^th player to join the 3000 hit club. He finished the day 5 for 5 at the plate and drove in the game-winning run.

When it comes to seizing a moment, it’s hard to beat Derek Jeter.

Criticism was swirling, calls mounting for him to be moved to eighth in the order in the midst of the chase for a historic milestone. But Saturday, Jeter did what he does best, captivate once again.

It wasn’t so much about the game, a July afternoon contest between AL East foes pretty commonplace. This was Derek Jeter’s day.

We knew it was coming soon. Perched upon the precipice of history, on the verge of becoming the 28th player in the annals of Major League Baseball to reach the 3,000-hit milestone, Derek Jeter began the day with 2,998 career base-hits.

With only two hits to go to join the exclusive club of baseball's all-time greats, it seemed a foregone conclusion for the Yankee captain, barring any unforeseen catastrophe that could derail the quest.

Yes, sir, let the praise begin.

Derek Jeter just put every hater to shame. Every person that said for the past three weeks that the New York Yankees would be better off without Jeter was made to look foolish once again as they doubted him.

We all knew the captain was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. It was without question. On July 8, 2011, he cemented his place as the greatest position player to ever grace the hallowed diamond. Period.

As I sit here and write this, Derek Jeter just got another hit, and is 4-for-4 on this memorable day.

Derek Jeter has had a lot of memorable days as a member of the New York Yankees.

From captain of the team to "Captain Clutch," from the regular season to the postseason, the Michigan native has come through with clutch hit after clutch hit.

With 3,004 possibilities, narrowing it down to 10 is no easy task.

But let's take a crack at it, shall we?

More than the Toy Story trilogy, Nickelodeon and perhaps Yankee Stadium itself, Derek Jeter was my childhood.

As a New Yorker growing up in the late '90s and throughout the '00s, my sports fandom and the Yankee captain’s career are inexorably linked. He was my first connection to professional sports, the superhuman shortstop whose face adorned the walls of my bedroom, whose number was displayed on the back of my Little League jersey, whose patented “jump throw” was imitated to minimal degrees of success.

Derek Jeter made history today in the most dramatic fashion possible. He knocked his 3,000th hit over the left-center fence at Yankee Stadium on his way to a 5-for-5 day at the plate. It was a legendary performance by a legendary Yankee.

But it also showed why he's being selfish.

I'm not saying that he is selfish. In fact, I've been as big of a Jeter supporter as a non-Yankee fan can be. But his decline to play in the All-Star Game before his game today was selfish as hell.

This afternoon, Derek Jeter hit his 3000^th hit.

All of our lives, we’ve lived in the shadows of the Bronx Bombers; we’ve hid our faces behind the Yankees' World Championship rings and hung our heads at Hall of Fame introductions. How have we never had a Derek Jeter?

In a body of work that spans over 16 Major League seasons, Derek Jeter's resume is nothing short of legendary. From Rookie of the Year to All-Star MVP, five World Series Championships to Gold-Glove winner, that is just a small sample.