Friday night, September 26th, 2014. Yankee Stadium is filled as the die hard fans of New York watch the final home game of Derek Jeter's illustrious career.

Yankee announcer Michael Kay sits in the booth and looks on as 'The Captain' crouches in the on-deck circle waiting for his next plate appearance.

Bottom of the ninth, tie game. Runner on second, one out, as Jeter gets called to the batters box.

"Well the script is there; the last page is in Derek's hands," says Kay.

Seconds later: "Base hit to right field! Here comes Richardson, here's the throw from Markakis, Richardson is safe!"

Crowd goes wild.

"Derek Jeterends his final game with a walk-off single! Derek Jeter, where fantasy becomes reality! Did you have any doubt?"

No Michael Kay, I didn't have any doubt in my mind that this man could pull off one of the greatest ends to a phenomenal story. It's almost like there was a written script to go along with that cold night in September.

How could it be that arguably the greatest player to ever put on a Yankee uniform got to end his career with a game winning hit? It doesn't seem real.

In the minutes following this ecstatic to this ball game, Derek Jeter was mobbed and congratulated by every single one of his teammates. Then another group of familiar faces waited by the dugout. As Jeter left his mob of current teammates, he walked into the men who were there on the field with him throughout his glorious five World Series rings.

An emotional greeting ensued between Jeter and former teammates Mariano RIvera, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, and also Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams and long-time manager Joe Torre.

Following this, Jeter praised the fans with his waves and points as he walked out to shortstop, in tears. He took one final crouch and touched the infield dirt, where he has made a mark on the entire Yankee community for the past 20 years.

Each year in sports, us fans lose players who have impacted the game in one way or another and have grabbed our hearts through the years of their career. It saddens us when we think about not seeing them take the field again and entertaining us with their extreme athleticism and drive to win.

For me, Derek Jeter's game winning hit in his final home game left a special place in my mind, and heart, forever. I grew up with Jeter being the face of baseball with his four World Series titles in five years and his humbling, leader-like personality. I have watched the Yankees' World Series videos from the late nineties countless times, trying to relive them as if I was in the moment.

For years, I watched him lead the Yankees to countless division titles and more runs at the fall classic year in and year out. I finally got to see him win World Series number five in 2009.

Two years of not having Jeter on the Yankees has been hard to watch and as 2016 comes to an end for baseball, we also lost Alex Rodriguez and Mark Texeira as Yankee fans.

A-Rod ended his career with an RBI double and a win. In Texeira's final week as a Yankee, he hit a walk-off grand slam to beat the Red Sox. That ended up being his 409th and final career home-run.

Outside of the Yankees though, it pains to say it but we also unfortunately are losing a Boston Red Sox legend. Despite being a hated rival for years and years, we as fans have to recognize the end of the career for David Ortiz, 'Big Papi.'

Countless times, he crushed the hearts of other teams with his powerful swing and clutch performance. As sports fans though, we can do nothing but respect the man who single handedly kept the whole city of Boston's hopes alive in 2004. With his back to back walk-off hits in the ALCS, Big Papi turned around what once was a 3-0 series lead in the favor of the Yankees. Days later, the Boston Red Sox were in the fall classic.

About a week later, Boston was celebrating and had a chance to breathe for the first time since 1918. The 86 year curse of the Bambino was over.

Now you have to respect that. As much as it hurts New York fans , we had our time. Coming back from down three games in a series was never done in sports history. Unbelievable.

Last year in the NBA, we watched Kobe Bryant go out with 60 points and the game clinching free throws to win in his final game as an LA Laker.

Super Bowl 50. We got to see Peyton Manning ride off into the sunset with a ring after beating the seemingly unstoppable Carolina Panthers at the time. Manning ended his amazing career with two rings and a spot as one of the greatest QB's to play the game.

Other than these, we've seen plenty more amazing ending to storied careers. Why does it always end well for them? It's just sports.

So why are we so affected by these professional athletes? What is it that is so amazing about the career of people playing a game?

I think it's the growth of them as a person and seeing them transform throughout their careers. Seeing them be great people while giving fans something to cheer about and go crazy when they would lead their team to a championship.

Sports. There's nothing else like it.

The farewell of impactful players in professional sports give us inspiration and motivation. It gives us an amazing story to tell to our grandkids. I can't wait to share the life and career of Derek Jeter with my kids and their kids. It will warm my heart reliving the amazing things I saw that man do.

14 All-Star games, five Gold Gloves, five Silver Slugger Awards, 3,000 hits, five rings. Wow.

At the end of the day, we see farewell after farewell in the world of sports. They either end in shambles or they somehow have so me crazy, heart warming endings. Either way, it's incredible seeing the things we see as sports fans.