Derek Jeter Pretends He Was Hit By Pitch -- Cheater? (VIDEO)

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 Wednesday night and are now in first place in the A.L East.

Rays manager Joe Maddon was not in the dugout to see his team win because he was ejected in the seventh inning after arguing about whether or not Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch. It turns out, Maddon was correct.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Rays reliever Chad Qualls appeared to hit Jeter in the elbow. The Yankee shortstop grabbed his elbow and acted like he was in pain. However, the replay showed the ball clearly hit the end of the bat.

Maddon went out to argue and was eventually ejected by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale.

Jeter later confessed that the ball hit the bat. "He told me to go to first base. I'm not going to tell him I'm not going to first, you know," Jeter said.

Scroll down to watch the video.

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Comments

[rpmcestmoi]

12:12 AM on 10/10/2010

Why is the videonunavailable?

[jemdad99]

11:36 PM on 09/20/2010

It's not cheating, it's heads-up baseball. Anybody who ever played the game beyond little league knows this. The umpire made the wrong call.

For those who doubt me, ask yourself this question. When is the last time you saw a batter who pulled away from an inside pitch turn to an umpire and say -- "Mr. Umpire, you called that inside pitch wrong, it was a strike.". Answer: never. Reason: they play to win. The rules state that the players play and the umpires make the calls. A bad call doesn't make the player a cheater.

[Coldhandluke]

12:47 PM on 09/21/2010

Its not the bad call that makes it cheating its the deception.

[rpmcestmoi]

12:16 AM on 10/10/2010

In tennis, players will sometimes correct a bad call by a linesperson that will not be in the corrector's favor. Odd by mass rule, which is "I've got mine, Jack."
"

[memememeeeee]

07:11 PM on 09/20/2010

ever watch basketball? drama queens. and baseball is still boring. I lost interest since they went on strike and got all pissy and greedy.

[tim33ny]

01:04 PM on 09/20/2010

you people are out of your mind to act like you don't want a heads up player like this on your team. to call it cheating is ridiculous. every coach dreams of having a player as alert as jeter was on this play, but besides that name one sport where athletes dont try to influence calls by officials. "come on man, it was on the line!!!". you people act like little leaguers are gonna be taking falls in the batters box after seeing this; they wont, they will keep trying to hit the ball because thats way more fun.

[Coldhandluke]

12:51 PM on 09/21/2010

That's what we have come to isn't it? Do anything to win including lying. Golf might be the last sport, where winning honestly still trumps over winning dishonestly.

[GiantsFan44]

06:28 PM on 09/27/2010

Are you sure?  I know alot of golfers who cheat and throw temper tantrums

[Tribal Knowledge]

10:38 AM on 09/20/2010

The shame of it is, this guy is a hero to millions of kids. My son is a Jeter-ophile, and even though we live in So Cal, his room is a Yankee shrine. He has played baseball since T Ball and is playing on the 9th grade team this year...proudly wearing Number 2.

During his game yesterday, and sporting #2, he got howls of "Hey, Derek Cheater!"

Too bad.

[jemdad99]

11:47 PM on 09/20/2010

There was NO cheating. You do not understand baseball. What rule was broken? Answer: none.

What about the pitcher whose move to first is a balk every time? Is that cheating? Answer: No.
Reason: just like with Jeter, we rely on the umpire to call the game.

[Tribal Knowledge]

01:55 PM on 09/21/2010

I understand a ton about baseball - and far, far more than you ever could, or would. I played it up to college and have coached it for years. Jeter, in his own words, did not get hit, but made a show that he did - lied about it - and took his base.

There WAS cheating - and cheating is not a part of baseball.

[dangermike0]

09:06 AM on 09/22/2010

This is just like when A rod called for the pop up in toronto... not against the rules but just not ok.

[Eric Penner]

09:09 PM on 09/21/2010

What an oh-so-clever chant. Couldn't even make up lyrics to a popular song?

[Mike Clark II]

01:31 AM on 09/20/2010

thats my boy! derek sanderson jeter! he displays the true spirit of a Yankee! cheat to win, and he FAKED THAT WELL! he should be in the WWE! cant believe nearly a week after this we are still talking about it! PLAY OF THE YEAR!

[jemdad99]

11:38 PM on 09/20/2010

Is ducking out of the way of a pitch on the inside corner cheating? No, and neither is faking being hit. The umpire must call the game.

[rpmcestmoi]

12:18 AM on 10/10/2010

Lovely. I hope your children turn out better.

[opines]

11:00 PM on 09/19/2010

It does not require particularly quick thinking to writhe in pain any time a ball hits the bat near your hands, just a willingness to cheat. Because it was the iconic Mr. Jeter many pundits have deemed it acceptable. These are the same ones who are horrified at basketball players who flop when backed into in the paint to draw a foul or soccer players who flop when untouched.

If Jeter had run it out when the ball bounced fair instead of seeing if he could be awarded first undeservedly his batting average would be a point lower and his integrity unsullied.

[Mike Clark II]

01:32 AM on 09/20/2010

i so agree, and do not forget the world cup when that guy from ghana was TOUCHED by an american player and acted as if his leg was amputated and ate up nearly 7 minutes of time.

[Tribal Knowledge]

10:39 AM on 09/20/2010

Exactly,

Holding aside for a moment that all Ghanese, every one of them, are only about 1/3 the strength of Americans, it looked silly.

[sadwitness]

03:34 PM on 10/02/2010

Not for nothin, but I'm a girl and that's kind of how I react if the ball gets close to me. It can hit half a foot from my finger, hand, elbow, whatever, I drop the bat and check my extremities, ice packs and bandaids may be required. Of course, I'm over 40 and have only played baseball of any sort about 10 times in my life. My son, who tried to teach me, says I'm afraid of the ball and that is the best way to get hurt. He was 11 and referred to it as a "girl ailment" (I'd like to get my hands on the coach who told him that). It occurs to me now that poor Derek, he must have the same "girl ailment" that I apparently have. Maybe we should feel sorry for him

(please realize that this is a comment dripping sarcasm- Jeter is a drama queen cheater, in my humble opinion)

[rpmcestmoi]

12:20 AM on 10/10/2010

I think Jeter is a splendidvplaer. Still, he was wrongbin this instace,netically wrong.

[imaxfli]

10:29 AM on 09/19/2010

What BS..they removed the video!

[MrGman]

09:59 AM on 09/19/2010

The umpire blew the call, told Jeter to go to first base, so he went....The blame should be on the umpire. I with ya Jeter I'm headed down the first base line.

[dangermike0]

09:08 AM on 09/22/2010

he definitely blew the call but it was the acting job that is the offensive part...

[redbud9]

10:05 PM on 09/18/2010

I thought Jeter got paid to HIT the ball, not GET HIT by it.

[jemdad99]

11:39 PM on 09/20/2010

You do not understand the job description. He gets paid to win. Getting on base helps the team win. He is doing his job.

[redbud9]

08:37 AM on 09/21/2010

So then what you are saying is that he gets paid to cheat as long as it gets him on base because that is exactly what he did. Thanks to instant replay the world saw it. Wow....that's a great value to teach our kids.

[sadwitness]

03:35 PM on 10/02/2010

Whatever it takes to win, right dad?

[gdfreethinker]

09:58 PM on 09/18/2010

He just had to one-up A-Rod who yelled "I got it" during a game when the Blue Jays were on the field.

[fuzzyhearts]

07:25 PM on 09/18/2010

Yankees. What did you expect?

[Sarcastic Jack]

06:03 AM on 09/19/2010

I expect the best team in baseball, and that's what I got.

[Jeany]

02:09 PM on 09/19/2010

Including great acting and intrinsic dishonesty. They're remarkably consistent, still, it's baseball, and they lost the game when the Rays outplayed them.

[sadwitness]

03:40 PM on 10/02/2010

best as in best players or most wins? We seem to have moved away from any personal accountability in our sports hero's and then we complain about a generation rife with cheaters and liars.

Cheating to win in sports=cheating to win in finance=cheating to win in relationships....same thing. It is about who and what a person is. What they believe and what they model. My son is grown now, and we enjoyed sports together when he was a kid. It was a great single mom bonding thing. I did not allow him to watch things with glorified violence, glorification of criminal behavior or horror films. If I were rearing the same child today, most sports would be on the not allowed list too. That is a sad statement. However, much of what I read here today supports that for me.

[dennishastings]

06:38 PM on 09/18/2010

Cheating is always part of the game? Where are the 'all steroids - all the time' teams? Might as well end the drama and just get on with it. It's just a game, not to be taken seriously - unless you are losing or in danger of losing. Right on. Sort of.

[jemdad99]

11:43 PM on 09/20/2010

Remember Gaylord Perry and his spitter? I agree that fans should not take sports seriously but thel athletes do take it seriously. For the athlete, this is their job and their passion. Also there is a lot of money on the line in terms of post-season, salary, bonus, etc.

[kmccarthy]

05:46 PM on 09/18/2010

Look at the video, umpire gave him first base before Jeter even reacted...Jeter's "acting" had nothing to do with it

[Jeany]

02:10 PM on 09/19/2010

When the ball struck the heel of the bat, Jeter pretended the ball hit his arm.

Look at the video.

[SUPPERMAN]

03:53 PM on 09/18/2010

Oh yea I forgot, They lost that game Ha Ha Karma?