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Whether you got tired of it or not, the biggest story of the 2014 Major League Baseball season was the retirement tour of New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter after 20 years in the league. Jeter was treated like royalty most of the season as he was presented with gifts, ceremonies, and tributes at every ballpark he visited. Some people thought things went a bit overboard though as he was just another baseball player retiring after a long career.

Jeter always had a flair for dramatics though and that’s how he ended his career both during his last game at Yankee Stadium in New York and during the season finale against the arch rival Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. When the Yankees took on the Baltimore Orioles in Jeter’s final home game they were leading 5-2 going into the top of the ninth inning. Most viewers figured the Yankees would pull Jeter from the contest so the fans could give him one more huge ovation.

But Baltimore tied the game 5-5 in the ninth and Jeter was scheduled as the third batter in the bottom half of the inning. As luck or fate would have it, the Yankees leadoff hitter Jose Pirela singled to start the inning. This set the table for Jeter who came up two batters later. The Yankees leader then hammered the ball into right field for a walk-off single to give his team a 6-5 win. The stadium went ballistic and so did Twitter as thousands of tributes came in with most fans saying Jeter’s last plate appearance had the fairy-tale ending they all expected.

That wasn’t the end of Jeter’s heroics though. The MLB regular season wrapped up on September 28 with the Yankees and Jeter visiting Boston. In his last at bat, Jeter hit an RBI single for the 3,465th hit of his career, which ranks him as number six on the all-time hits list. The fourth-inning single means the shortstop retires with the most hits in Yankees history and his 1,311 RBIs is also tops for the fabled franchise. He also finished his career with a .310 batting average. The future Hall of Famer then left the diamond for the very last time as the Yankees best the Red Sox 9-5. However, the 40-year-old and his teammates failed to make the playoffs.

The Yankees finished the season 12 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American league East Division, which was good enough for second place in the division. They also missed the wildcard playoff spot by several games. Jeter doesn’t leave the sport empty handed though as he won a total of five World Series rings during his remarkable 20-year career.