Jeter, one vote shy of unanimous selection, Walker entering Hall
NEW YORK » Known for two decades as No. 2, Derek Jeter is now linked to the number 1 — as in, who was the lone Hall of Fame voter who didn’t put a check mark next to his name?
Jeter came within one vote of being a unanimous pick on Tuesday, falling just shy of the standard set when longtime New York Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous selection last year.
For now, the identity and motivation of the non-conformist remains a mystery.
“Well, I look at all the votes that I got,” Jeter said. “Trying to get that many people to agree on something is pretty difficult to do. So that’s not something that’s on my mind.”
The longtime shortstop and captain of the Yankees, Jeter appeared on 396 of 397 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. His 99.7% moved above Ken Griffey Jr. (99.3%) for the second-highest share.
Jeter was listed on all 219 ballots made public by Ryan Thibodaux’s vote tracker before the announcement. The BBWAA will release additional ballots on Feb. 4 of writers who chose a public listing.
“Everyone told me it was a foregone conclusion. I didn’t buy it. So it was not a relaxing day. There was a lot of anxiety,’’ Jeter said. “I was nervous, sitting around waiting for a phone call is something that is completely out of your control.”
Walker got 304 votes, six above the 75% needed and up from 54.6% last year. He was making his 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot and tweeted earlier in the day “I believe I’m going to come up a little short today” after checking the vote tracker and projecting he would finish at 73.3%.
As the announcement time approached, Walker had just about given up.
“I had it when they’re going to call, a roundabout time, and that time had come and gone,” he said. “And there was two minutes after that when the call actually came.”
Pitcher Curt Schilling was third with 278 votes (70%) in his eighth ballot appearance, an increase from 60.9% but still 20 votes shy. The steroids-tainted pair of Roger Clemens (61%) and Barry Bonds (60.7%) both showed slight increases in their eighth tries. Clemens rose from 59.5% last year and Bonds from 59.1%.
Jeter and Walker will be inducted on July 26 at the Hall in Cooperstown along with catcher Ted Simmons and former players’ association head Marvin Miller, who were voted in last month by the Hall’s Modern Era Committee.
A five-time World Series champion, Jeter became a face of baseball as he starred in the nation’s largest media market from 1995-2014. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1996 as the Yankees won the World Series for the first time since 1978, then led New York to three straight titles from 1998-2000, the only team to accomplish the feat since the 1972-74 Oakland A’s. The rebuilt Yankees added their 27th title in 2009.
Jeter became a 14-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner despite defensive metrics that were maligned. He was appointed captain by owner George Steinbrenner in June 2003, filling a position that had been open since Don Mattingly’s retirement after the 1995 season. He finished with 3,465 hits, 260 homers, 358 stolen bases and 1,311 RBIs, earning $266 million from the Yankees.
Walker hit .313 with .383 homers, 1,311 RBIs and 230 stolen bases for Montreal (1989-94), Colorado (19952004) and St. Louis (200405), a five-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner. He was the 1997 NL MVP and led the major leagues in batting average in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
Evaluating his offensive performance gave some voters difficulty because he spent 9½ seasons in the thin air of Denver’s Coors Field. Walker batted .381 with an 1.172 OPS and 154 home runs in 597 games at Coors and .282 with 229 homers and an .873 OPS in 1,391 games elsewhere, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.