Blasphemy. That’s what fellow Red Sox fans will utter after reading this Blog. At least that’s what they’ll spout. However, in their heart, they all know Derek Jeter is one class act. The days of chanting, “Nomah’s bettah,” are long, long gone.

Recently, Jeter passed Louis Aparicio to become Major League Baseball’s most prolific hitting shortstop. And, in recent days, Derek passed the immortal Lou Gehrig as the Yankees’ all-time hit leader. But stats are not the story. In a time of narcissistic professional athletes, Jeter has always remained true to his professional and personal character – showing great respect for the game and avoiding off-field missteps.

Before claims of heresy are heard from Red Sox Nation, not all Sox fans hated the Yankees from birth. In the 50s and 60s it was more respect than hatred. Hell, some of my best friends were Yankees’ fans. That’s when I learned the phrase, “front-runner.”

The real hatred for the Yankees began for me on January 3, 1973. That was the day George Steinbrenner saved the Yankees and bought them from CBS for a measly $8.7-million.

Between Steinbrenner and names like Munson, Nettles, Jackson – and the ultimate hated Yankee, Mickey Rivers (yes, even more than Bucky F. Dent); real hatred for the Yankees grew in the mid-1970s. The classy Yankee-way took a back seat to arrogance and self-righteousness. Gone were the days of Mantle, Maris, Berra, Ford, Howard, Kubek, Richardson, et al. While constantly loosing to them was demoralizing, they were hard to dislike. Not the case for the 1970s Yankees. Hatred came easily.

Don Mattingly brought some of that class back to New York, but it wasn’t until 1995 when the skinny shortstop from Kalamazoo, Michigan was called up – and that Yankee tradition would again take hold. As they say, the rest is history.

Don’t get me wrong, hating the Yankees is a birthright of today’s Red Sox fans. It’s the foundation of the greatest rivalry in sports. And while Jeter has brought that “Yankee Way” back to the Bronx, Yankee aura, as in the days of my youth, are forever gone.

Yes, Sox fans, there was indeed a time when we admired the men in pinstripes. They were worn by the great Mickey Mantle and his band of drinking buddies.