While the last decade of Yankees baseball has been relatively light on postseason glory, those lean years did produce an indelible memory: Derek Jeter’s swan song in 2014, punctuated by one last clutch hit that etched an exclamation point at the end of his story.
The hit in question came during the captain’s final game — a first-pitch, opposite-field single in the bottom of the ninth that felled the Baltimore Orioles in front of a delirious Yankee Stadium crowd.
Famous as that moment is, its genesis is often forgotten. While Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Joe Torre were waiting in the wings to congratulate Jeter on a career finely played, his game-winner depended upon two unknowns: Jose Pirela and Antoan Richardson, a pair of journeymen who appeared in a mere 57 games in pinstripes combined.