I was driving through Philadelphia in 1995, delivering a package for a messenger company when on the radio, the announcer said “#2 Derek Jeter” for the first time. His Yankee debut had been talked about for quite some time and he was considered a can’t miss prospect. All the experts were right. A scout for the Astros, Hal Newhouser quit the Astros when the owner decided to NOT draft Derek with the first pick in the draft. His selection was one of the easiest picks in sports history.
Despite all the great games and all the accomplishments that he has had the privilege of accomplishing in pinstripes, I hope he doesn’t play out his contract. After his 3,000 hits, unless he bounces back to hit at least .280 and with a touch of power, he should ride off into the sunset gracefully like very few athletes have done in the past. I’m not ready to write him off today, but he has to make it back to playing like a star and not hitting into a double play every time he comes to the plate. Some will say that we owe him at least that much after all he’s done for us. It’s hard to feel that way during a depression when many of us are scraping by and at 17 million dollars per year, Derek has become a “Punch & Judy” hitter. Anyway, I’m guessing he has sold more #2 jerseys than any athlete except Michael Jordan over the past fifteen years, and more than any baseball player ever has. The New York Yankees may owe him, but do we?
It’s been wonderful, but now it’s time to put up or shut up…
Update: He did have a game for the ages and went 5 for 5 getting his 3,000th hit with a solo shot off of David Price, a quality pitcher. I think the naysayers (myself included) will cut Derek a little slack for at least a few weeks…
Well, what can I say? He had an extremely productive year and had 213 hits! The guy is a force of nature and played much better than I ever imagined a 38 year old guy could…Live and learn.
Same shit,
As I continue to search for images which I may have overlooked twenty years ago, I am constantly coming across some pleasant surprises. This sign was an iconic part of Times Sq. for several decades. Once again, I do have a master printer who has kindly offered to print my work at a reasonable price. Archival Pigment Prints of most of the images on this website, can be purchased. Just e-mail me for a quote…Thanks!
© Matt Weber
I wish the days of kooky religion were gone, but these sort of sentiments are still very much alive these days. This sign was painted during the height of the AIDS epidemic and was up on a fence in Harlem for a couple of years. No one dared take it down…
Another very old New York City parking sign from the late 1950s…Maybe these signs are below the radar of 
This is a vintage NYC parking sign from the late 1950s or early ’60s…Not the type of sign I collect, but photographed amongst the overgrowth of deep Queens, I think it’s mildly interesting…
Anyone who lived in New York back in the 1980s remembers this giant painting of “The Doctor”. Yes, the ’80s were a time when the Mets ruled New York. Many younger fans jumped aboard and I can’t blame them. The Yankees were suffering from Steinbrenner’s miserly years, when he colluded with other owners and tried to halt the giving out of huge contracts, which of course was his doing in the first place. Meanwhile the Mets had the two best young players in the game…Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. As a Yankee fan I had to concede that the Mets were better. This trivial nonsense matters little to most people, but to diehard baseball fans, it was torture! I think 
I don’t know where to start. It’s 5/21/11 and supposedly the world is about to end. I’ve heard first hand from one of these lunatics that there’s only room for 200,000,000 souls in heaven. That’s like 3% of the people on earth. Talking to this lost soul for a few minutes, I heard the standard rhetoric: We are all sinners and must repent or burn forever. I asked her if the cigarette lighter I stole from Woolworth’s was a big enough sin to be burned, and she said, yes! I asked if “God doesn’t recognize the difference between stealing a 19¢ lighter when I was ten, and maybe stealing billions of dollars like Bernie Madoff?” She said no…All sins are sins and must be repented for. God doesn’t play favorites between those who are starving and steal an apple, and those who are filthy rich and steal someone’s life savings! OK, I walk away as usual, unable to make a single point as she kept shouting how I was going to burn…She is probably praying up real good right now and when the world doesn’t end, I wonder if she’ll feel any relief, or disappointment that she didn’t get to meet Jesus. I think that this Mr. Camping schmuck is really evil and shouldn’t have been given the time of day by the press. Of course he spent over 100 million dollars spreading his doomsday message. Money talks and you know what walks. I feel bad for the millions of people who have actually been preparing for the end and feeling extremely scared for the past week or so. I’ve been at gunpoint several times and know how frightening it can be. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone…
This iconic sign has been in many movies and may be as well known as any sign in the world…Maybe not, I’m just saying. Notice that it has been riddled heavily with bullets over the years! Perhaps some “Greasers” in their 1932 Ford coupe, shot at it after seeing “Gun Crazy” back in 1950…
© Matt Weber
© Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber 