The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 was announced on Tuesday. One of the inductees is former New York Yankees shortstop and captain, Derek Jeter. The question was whether or not Derek Jeter should be a unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame. Spoiler alert: he was not, finishing one vote shy of unanimity.
Only one person has been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame unanimously. That was former Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera, who was unanimously selected to the Hall last year. In 2016, Ken Griffey, Jr. was three votes short of being elected unanimously. Jeter should have been the second player to be elected unanimously as he deserved to be elected unanimously and the voter who failed to honor this is simply disrespecting the legendary shortstop.
Rivera said last August in regards to Jeter’s candidacy, “If it was me, it would be 1,000 percent. Forget about 100 percent. I played with Derek for so many years, and seeing him day in and day out, and seeing the way he played the game and respected the game, I don’t see why not.’’
Jeter received 396 of 397 votes. Here’s why he should have been unanimous.
Jeter was drafted by the Yankees in 1992. He reached the majors in 1995 and was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1996. He was a 14-time All-Star, won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award five times, won five World Series titles, and one World Series MVP award.
Jeter had 3,465 career hits, 260 home runs, and 1,311 RBI. He is sixth on the all-time hits list and has more hits than any other shortstop. He ranks sixth among shortstops in career WAR with a 72.4 WAR.
There are people out there who say that Jeter was horrible defensively. Jeter had a career DRS of -152, which is the worst ever measured. Despite how bad or good he was on defense, Derek was overall a great player.
Another reason why Jeter should have been unanimous is his image, which is completely clean. During his career, he wasn’t part of any controversy. He didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs and never did anything against the rules. He played the game the right way and respected the game.
Jeter not getting elected unanimously is cruel and disrespectful. He was a great player and one of the best shortstops of all time. He also never cheated and represented and respected the game the way it should be. Jeter should have been the second player to be unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame.
