Superfan on Jeter: "He is our hero"
NEW YORK -- After 1,390 performances in New York, the curtain is coming down on the biggest star on the most magnificent stage in sports.
Thursday, Derek Jeter, who has played shortstop for the Yankees since he was 20, is making his final appearance in the Bronx.
As baseball bids farewell to royalty, the lords of the game, like commissioner Bud Selig will be wistful.
"How lucky have we been and I've been that the face of baseball through the past two decades has been Derek Jeter," said Selig.
But out in the bleachers they'll be feeling it in their guts.
Like with Vinny Milano, who goes by the nickname, Bald Vinny if he is anywhere near Yankee Stadium.
"I think for many people especially for people of my generation he is our hero," said Milano.
Bald Vinny is Yankee Stadium's alpha-fan. The leader of the "Bleacher Creatures."
For the last 15 years he's been the one to get things going with the "roll call."
It is the ritual pregame chanting of each Yankee's name that each starter acknowledges with a wave.
"I get little kids that come up to me and say 'Derek Jeter waved to me,' you know what that's like, I have been doing it for 15 years and I'm like 'Derek Jeter waved to me' it's the best thing ever," said Milano.
Which is why tonight is going to be so tough for Yankee fans - Jeter is waving goodbye.
"It's probably just going to be a sea of emotions," said Milano.
He doesn't even want to think about Jeter's last wave goodbye.
"You never see the emotion behind the glasses," said Milano while wearing his sunglasses.
Bald Vinny knows that at Yankee Stadium Thursday, one of the game's oldest rules will be suspended - there will be plenty of crying in baseball.
