Every American woman, child, and man owes an eternal debt of gratitude to those intrepid reporters who managed to unearth the seemingly little-known fact that no human being, until recently, had ever amassed the staggering sum of 3,000 base hits over a career.

Most of these Knights of the Keyboard hail from the East Coast, in general, and New York City, specifically, and it is due to their diligence, not to mention their ability to keep things in perspective, that this amazing feat was brought to light for the whole world to see.

Their reporting last weekend on the accomplishments of one Derek Jeter are praise-worthy, especially in light of the massive research they undertook to learn that Jeter was courageously approaching the breaking of the record, and with almost no fanfare to accompany the feat.

And hats off to Sports Illustrated for keeping this story alive by allowing Jeter’s  presence to grace its cover this week, with the title  “The Moment”  emblazoned on the cover, lest anyone think this accomplishment to be anything short of finding a cure for cancer, an end to world hunger, or a shedding (at long last) of all the differences in the world that have led to wars and destruction.

Now that Jeter has appeared to save mankind through his super-human hitting, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever being able to top his success ---although those sleuthing scribes would certainly seem to have given Jeter a run for his money.

So great work and job well done, you East Coast baseball writers.

I smell a Pulitzer.

There’s no question about it.

FtheM