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NEW YORK — Is it me, or does it feel like George Lombard Jr. has been the Yankees shortstop forever? I can’t remember the last rookie who blended into the fabric so quickly and so easily – except maybe Derek Jeter.
There was no small irony about Saturday’s Old Timers Day at the Stadium. Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Willie Randolph and roughly 20 other Boomers in pinstripes gathered to play a couple of innings of glorified softball.
After all the reminiscing was done, guess who they ended up talking about?
That Lombard kid.
Guess who wasn’t there to give the rookie shortstop his blessing?
Yep. Jeter.
That’s too bad. The former captain missed an opportunity to christen Lombard’s voyage at the position he once played. Lombard has all the gifts to be called the Yankees’ best shortstop since Jeter himself.
I asked Lombard if he’d been looking forward to seeing Jeter.
“It would’ve been pretty cool,” the rookie said. “I’ve met him before; he’s obviously a legend.”
It would’ve thrilled the Stadium crowds, not to mention make Lombard’s day, for the two to pose for a picture. All Jeter had to do was grab the microphone from Michael Kay, the ceremony’s MC, and tell Yankees fans Lombard represents the future of the organization. Get on the bandwagon now.
But none of that happened. Jeter told Yankees executives he was committed to his daughter Bella’s eighth birthday party. The club marketing department said it was understandable.
Some of Jeter’s former teammates, however, said there was another reason why he wasn’t there on Saturday.
Jeter, 52, is afraid of looking like an old man on the field.
“He doesn’t want to embarrass himself,” said David Cone. “He’s a very proud guy. I pitched last year and hit Brian Doyle in the ankle. He couldn’t move; it was awful.
“So, yeah, Derek doesn’t want to do that.”
Jorge Posada echoed Cone’s assessment.
“Derek just doesn’t want to play anymore,” said the former catcher, who admitted he too gets no thrill strapping on the gear at 55.
“I don’t want to be out here, I hate it,” Posada said. “Baseball is really hard to play when you get old. But I do it for the fans. They’re the ones who want to see us.”
If only Jeter had taken Posada’s cue. He would’ve seen why the Yankees’ hierarchy is ecstatic about Lombard. The 21-year-old had two hits, including another home run, in the 5-4 win over the Braves.
Jeter would’ve seen a mirror image of himself when he was a 20-year-old rookie – poised and mature from the beginning, Lombard has played only five games, but he’s given the Yankees a sense of stability that Anthony Volpe never could.
Cone sees the striking parallel between the past and present.
“Derek was ready to lead us from the first day on,” he said. “I see the same thing from Lombard. It’s uncanny. He’s a natural.”
Yankees fans are already drawn to Lombard’s charisma, but an endorsement like Cone’s, coming from Jeter, would complete the circle. So what’s he waiting for?
My advice to Jeter is quite simple: get over yourself.
You owe it to the ticket buyers – and obviously to Lombard – to come around at 161st Street and River Avenue. Everyone still adores you to this day.
And as for the fear of looking unathletic in Pinstripes - stop right there. The army of loyalists, many of whom still parade around the Stadium in No. 2 jerseys, look up to you not in spite of your age, but because of it.
Saturday’s crowd cheered every player introduced from Jeter’s era, even the second and third-tier reserves, because they represent the greatest period in the Yankees’ history.
Even if Jeter can’t run or throw anymore, he’s still a time portal for anyone over 40. All he’d have to do is step into the batter’s box, hold up his right hand to an imaginary umpire and suddenly it’s 1998 again.
That’s magic.
The result is irrelevant. I saw Johnny Damon, a two-time world champion and two-time All-Star, stagger around in centerfield trying to catch a routine fly ball. He didn’t even come close. Damon smiled and tipped his cap. The crowd loved it.
Here’s an even better example of humility.
In 1973, Mickey Mantle faced Whitey Ford in that year’s Old Timers Game. The Mick was only 41. Ford, the Yankees’ greatest lefthander of the 50s and 60s, was 48.
The two legends set up a mock showdown for the raucous crowd.
Ford served up one meatball after another. Mantle, batting right-handed, kept launching missiles into the upper deck – just foul.
Legendary announcer Mel Allen called the action on WPIX, treating each pitch like it was the seventh game of the World Series. Which it was to the fans.
They didn’t care that Mantle and Ford were paunchy middle-aged men. All that mattered was Mantle hitting one of those bombs fair.
Finally, he did. Ford’s pitch was so slow it resembled a high-arc softball offering. Mantle timed it perfectly as Allen thundered to the TV audience, “it is going...it is going…it is GONE!”
It didn’t matter that Mantle limped around the bases. He barely made it. His knees were shot. But he gave the fans the gift they’d been waiting for all along – a piece of the past.
MORE BY BOB KLAPISCH
Ailing Tommy John says goodbye to Yankees in shocking note to Old TimersAug. 9, 2026, 7:15 a.m.
Yankees’ star has found the flaw that could sink him in October | KlapischAug. 7, 2026, 2:28 p.m.
Jeter is 10 years older than Mantle was at the time – actually AARP-eligible – but he still seems uncomfortable with aging.
But the calendar is still on Jeter’s side. If not for taking one last at-bat, then publicly welcoming Lombard to the shortstop brotherhood.
I have a hunch the kid will still be around by the time Jeter’s on Medicare.
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