Derek Jeter and Larry Walker were elected to the baseball Hall of Fame today. Jeter was elected in his first year of eligibility, and Walker in his last (took ten years). Needing 75% of the votes to get in the Hall, Walker narrowly managed to get in with 304/397 (76.5%) ballots in favor, while Jeter was just one vote shy of of unanimity. The only player in baseball history to receive 100% of the vote is Mariano River, the greatest closer in MLB history, who was inducted just last year.
Seeing that Jeter impressively received 396 out of 397 votes to be inducted, it made me wonder: “who’s the one asshole that doesn’t think Derek Jeter is a first-ballot hall of famer?” I have often wondered what goes through the minds of those who are lucky enough to cast their ballot for baseball’s highest honor. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) votes on everything from the league MVP’s, to the Cy Young Award winners, to the Hall of Fame. Founded in 1908, being a member of the BBWAA is the highest possible honor for a baseball journalist, and implies they are the foremost authority on anything baseball. Having said that, it’s a wonder to me that since the first Hall of Fame class in 1936, only one player has been voted in unanimously.
That means that players like Babe Ruth (95%), Ted Williams (93%), Hank Aaron (97%), Nolan Ryan (98%), and Willie Mays (94%) had at least a couple supposed “baseball experts” who thought they were not worthy of a first-ballot induction.
It’s unbelievable that the players I listed above did not receive 100% of the vote. I wouldn’t think there’d be a sane person in the game of baseball could honestly say with a straight face that Hank Aaron (yes the same Hank Aaron that hit 755 HOMERS and was a TWENTY-FIVE TIME ALL STAR), was unworthy of a first-ballot Hall of Fame vote. That absolutely blows my mind.
I’m assuming that their reasoning for not voting in players unanimously (until Rivera) is that it protects the sanctity of the game because no one has a perfect career. A 100% vote (in their minds) tells people that they couldn’t have had a better career, and that no one if worthy of such an honor. Plus, if some of the all-time greats like Joe DiMaggio (88%) and Tom Seaver (98%) weren’t worthy of 100%, how could you legitimately make a case that anyone else is? Well, let me try.
It’s not about protecting the sanctity of the game or comparing player’s HOF percentages against one another, it’s about voting based on the player that was presented on the diamond. Mariano Rivera is currently the greatest relief pitcher the game has ever seen, and I’m not discounting any of his success at all, but how was he the first player to be voted in the HOF unanimously? There were just as deserving candidates that came before him, but the writers get so caught up in preserving the 100% mark that we’ve really got guys leaving The Captain…Mr. November…Derek fucking Jeter off their ballot. What a joke. No one has a perfect career, but all in all, it’s pretty clear what a Hall of Fame career looks like. And I realize I’m making a big fuss over a guy who still received over 99% of the vote, but it’s just amazing to me that there are still professional journalists in the game of baseball who fail to recognize and reward greatness.
Oh, and for the record I think Larry Walker should have been voted in years ago. There’s no way he should’ve barely sneaked in by such a thin margin. Like Jeter, Larry Walker was a staple of the game when he played, but his career got overshadowed by the cloud of the steroid era, which was reflected in his lackluster HOF campaign up to this point. But, it’s about time he got in. Welcome to Cooperstown fellas.
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