As March approaches, most individuals focus solely on the obvious: no more snow and the transition from heavy winter jackets to light windbreakers. As this all seems great to me, I look at spring in a different way. Yes, flowers are blooming and the air is fresh, however, what makes this season so significant to me is that spring training for baseball is back, which is one step closer to the actual season starting.

All of my life, I have been a New York Yankees fan. The teams awe-inspiring history and the unification it brings amongst all individuals is one thing I'll always take pride in. Especially in these last couple of years, any Yankee fan would know that we wouldn't consider them to be memorable. However, because of this, I learned winning isn't everything. Yes, we all want to see our favorite teams go on to be the greatest, but shouldn't it be more than that? Because of the Yankees, I have made some of the fondest memories with my family, friends, and even strangers. One memory, however, that the Yankees have given me stands out the most among the rest: Derek Jeter's last home game.

On September 25th, 2014, I was blessed enough to attend the Derek Jeter's last home game as a New York Yankee. I've been to a countless number of Yankee games in the past but I knew even before stepping in foot into the stadium that this one would be a whole lot different than the rest.

As I walked into the stadium, you could hear the crowd screeching noise as they were getting ready to say goodbye to one of the most iconic players to ever play and you could feel the stadium literally shake, exactly what an earthquake would feel like. It was completely unreal. I recall quickly approaching my seat and looking over the full, packed stadium. The stadium was going to be filled with emotion, no matter what the outcome of the score would be.

Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth and final inning, the Yankees are now tied with the Baltimore Orioles with one person out, and Captain Clutch himself is up to bat. Now, even if you're an avid baseball fan or don't care at all about sports, you know that Derek Jeter got his name as "Captain Clutch" for a reason. It's almost as if this guy is superhuman. Therefore, once he approached home plate to bat, even with the overflowing of love by fans resulting in high-pitched screams of the infamous chant "Der-ek Jet-er" to honor our captain, I was still able to concentrate and patiently wait on what might exactly happen next. I mean, it's Derek Jeter, with him really anything could happen. The fate of this game and more importantly, his last bat at Yankee stadium was truly in his hands.

And there you have it. Within seconds, the sound of a loud "crack" caught the attention of every person in that stadium. Captain Clutch has done it again! Base hit to right field and outfielder, Antoan Richardson, was able to slide head-first into home plate. Derek Jeter had just won his final home game with a game-winning single.

The whole stadium erupted in roars. I couldn't even control my emotions, all I could do was cry. The fans, the players, even strangers were jumping and hugging one another. It was something that fantasy couldn't even make up. As Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" blared in the background, our captain walked around the Yankee stadium field and waved his cap to all the loyal fans as his made his remarkable final farewell. It was one of the greatest and proudest moments I had as a Yankee fan. I'll truly never forget it for as long as I live.

All in all, this is why spring is so significant to me. Although this event didn't occur during the springtime, baseball (and this event) single-handedly has made more much more excited for when baseball season does start. I hope everyone is as lucky as me to have such an important event in their lives that they are able to closely associate with something, such as spring.