DETROIT — The Yankees seem to have never met a moment they could not monetize. They scooped up the infield dirt from the game in which Derek Jeter recorded his 3,000th hit and put it in capsules that dangled from key chains. They offered a game-used bullpen rubber from one of Mariano Rivera’s last games for $15,000. When the old Yankee Stadium closed, it was sold off brick by Monument Park brick.
When the Yankees drifted from contention last year, they held a Derek Jeter Day in early September, more than three weeks before the end of the season, as a way to ensure another packed house.