Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 

Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills;

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding; 

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning . . .

Walt Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" in tribute to Abraham Lincoln.  I am posting it today in tribute to Derek Jeter, the longest-serving captain of the greatest sports franchise in history, the New York Yankees.

Yesterday, Jeter became the first Yankee to have 3000 base hits in his career.  Babe Ruth didn't have 3000 hits, and neither did Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, or Mickey Mantle.

Yesterday, it was for Derek Jeter that "they call[ed], the swaying mass, their eager faces turning."

Click here to watch Jeter's 3000th hit -- which was a home run.