Count Derek Jeter as one of the biggest early-season surprises in baseball.
Only a couple of months from his 38th birthday, the Yankee captain has had perhaps the best start of his Hall of Fame career. He entered the second game of the series against the Texas Rangers batting .411 with 30 hits and a 1.08 OPS.
Never known as a home run hitter, Jeter has four homers this season compared to six in all of 2011. It wouldn't be realistic to expect him to keep up this kind of pace, but the resurgence at the plate has helped the Yankees overcome some shoddy starting pitching to lead the American League East.
It also got us to thinking about how some other players performed when they reached Jeter's age. Barry Bonds obviously set the bar at a level most 38 year olds could never reach when he batted .341 with 45 home runs and 90 RBI in 2003.
Bonds walked 148 times that season and had an off-the-charts OPS of 1.278.
But we're reluctant to use Bonds as the benchmark for aging players because of the steroids cloud that surrounds him. He was a great player before the steroid controversy tarnished his reputation and accomplishments but it's hard to envision anyone putting up the numbers he did without some pharmaceutical help.
So we're going to take a random sampling of position players who were still contributing in a major way when they turned 38. It's by no means a complete list so don't be offended if your favorite geezer is left out.
It demonstrates, however, that Jeter may be able to turn back the clock this season and give fans an encore presentation from his youth.
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