There has never been a position player to earn unanimous entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Derek Jeter came awfully close.
Given his popularity amongst baseball writers and his spot in history as one of the best shortstops to play the game, Jeter’s chances of matching longtime teammate Mariano Rivera with the unanimous vote looked solid.
He just needed one vote.
Jeter ended up drawing 396 votes out of the 397 ballots submitted for 2020’s class, which was good for the highest vote share for a position player. But that one vote — the voter remained anonymous — was glaring. Still, Jeter managed to laugh at the whole situation during his Hall of Fame speech on Wednesday.
Derek Jeter: "Thank you to the baseball writers – all but one of you." pic.twitter.com/PmBBBNDDq0
— Jon Perez (@JonPerez_) September 8, 2021
Jeter said with a smile:
“Thank you to the baseball writers — all but one of you — who voted for me.”
The joke drew plenty of laughs and a long applause. And it was honestly a great way to address the snub. After all, if players like Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Maddux couldn’t get a unanimous share of first-ballot votes, then coming one vote short is still beyond impressive.
Hopefully that one voter — whomever it may be — had a laugh at that line too.
