After 20 years of professional baseball, an immortal legend hung up his iconic number two Yankees' uniform for the last time in Fenway Park of all places. 

Derek Jeter exited the game of baseball against the Red Sox on Sunday after an RBI single, and we couldn’t really imagine any other way for the Yankees’ all-time hits leader to go out. Except maybe for the walk-off single he notched in his final game in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.  

On both occasions, The Captain himself was greeted to a standing ovation by the entire ball park, with a plethora of “hat tips” thrown in here and there. 

Jeter finished his illustrious career with 3,465 hits, the sixth-most in Major League history; but even as impressive as that milestone is, there’s another reason why we have always tipped our hats off to number two when legendary Yankees’ public address announcer Bob Sheppard, or his recording for that matter, introduced him to the plate: 

He stayed clean. And amongst all the performance enhancing drug use that went on in his era and very own locker room, he was never once implicated with any of it.

The list of star Yankees’ during Jeter’s era who were later tied up in the steroid scandal is a long one which includes Roger Clemens and Andy Petitte, who were injected by former team trainer Brian McNamee, Jason Giambi, Garry Sheffield and, of course, Jose Canseco. 

Yet, Jeter, not once, caved to the taboo around him.

SEE ALSO: Derek Jeter, A Product Of The Times

There is a reason why Jeter is so revered for his class and respect for the game of baseball and that’s because he played the game the way it should be played: with integrity, loyalty and most importantly, without the use of performance enhancing drugs. 

And I feel like Mr. and Mrs. Jeter should get a little of the credit too for the way they raised their son. Let’s not forget, Jeter’s father, Charles, was actually a substance abuse counselor so you can bet he taught his son a thing or too about the negative effects of performance enhancing drugs.

According to a CBS ’60 Minutes’ report, Jeter’s parents also made him sign a contract when he was a child that set acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior. Hint: here’s a tip for future parents who want their children to end up like Derek Jeter. 

With Jeter, it really felt like it was never about the numbers, though that stats that he put up over the course of his career will alone earn him first-ballot Hall-of-Famer status. 

At the end of the day, regardless of what Jeter did on the field, we always admired him for the consummate professional he was off the field, not getting tied up in the muck of performance enhancing drugs and for continuing to serve as the perfect role model for the youth of America. 

Sure, he’s probably not the greatest Yankee of all time; there are still the Babe Ruth’s, DiMaggios, Gherigs and Mantles that come before him. 

Jeter may have not been the most powerful hitter, fastest runner or even the best short-stop of all time. More importantly, he earned the respect and admiration of his teammates, coaches, league and the entire game of baseball, all by staying clean. As fans of the game today, that’s really all we can ask for, and for that, we tip our hats to The Captain.