MIAMI _ So I am proudly a Baseball Hall of Fame voter, and the 2020 ballot came out this week, and this happened Tuesday inside the ESPN studios on South Beach, where I was co-hosting the "Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz."
During a commercial break, I volunteered how funny it would be if I was the only elector nationwide to not vote for Derek Jeter as a first-ballot inductee.
It was discussed how the ensuing controversy would be such perfect fodder for the radio show _ underlined by the idea it would be a Miami Herald writer (one raised as a Red Sox fan!) besmirching the otherwise pristine ballot of the Yankees icon who now happens to be part-owner and CEO of the Miami Marlins.
Stugotz runs with the idea and begins feeding me reasons to justify a no vote. "Wasn't even the best shortstop on his team!" notes Stu, alluding to Alex Rodriguez.
I forgot the kidding exchange until later it comes up on the air, as if I might have been serious. I wasn't. I try to make that clear. But since then, on Twitter, in emails, there appear to be lots of folks either calling me bad words or looking forward to me being the lone anarchist who actually blocks Jeter's unanimous vote _ just for fun.
(There has been only one such perfect vote in the Hall's 83 years, by the way. Not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, nobody, ever, until it happened just last year with Jeter's old Yankees teammate, closer Mariano Rivera).
For the record, I will not be the one who denies Jeter that historic distinction in 2020. I will be transparent as usual on who will get my 10 maximum votes. All I can say for sure right now is Jeter will be one.
(Ballots must be submitted by December 31, and the 2020 inductees will be announced on January 21, live on MLB Network).
Won't be me but somebody might vote no on Jeter, odds are some voters will, and that is worth pondering.
The whole idea of voting for Cooperstown induction is rife with human foibles. Allow me to share what I mean as one of just more than 400 Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) members who vote.
You know why a 100% vote is so extremely rare? It's screwball logic, but I know electors who believe voting for an absolute-certain inductee is a wasted vote. They'll let that guy sail easily past the required 75% minimum without them and instead use one of their votes on a borderline candidate who actually needs that vote.
Morality comes into play. It is why the lingering steroids taint has kept out Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who on accomplishment would be considered unanimous vote-worthy but who instead both linger shy in the 59% range.
One fellow voter I spoke with Wednesday predicted, "They'll both get in in '22 (their final year of eligibility). They'll be punished until then."
Even politics come into play. Curt Schilling keeps coming up short (he was at 60.9% last year), and I know voters (plural) who continue to deny him based on his outspoken right-wing stances.
Plain sentiment is a factor, too. A big one. It was no coincidence that Edgar Martinez, short year after year, finally got in on his 10th and final year of eligibility in 2019.
That same misty-eyed tendency is what now bodes well for slow-climbing Larry Walker, who stalled at 54.6% in 2019 but now figures to enjoy the same big 10th Year Bounce that Martinez did.
The funny thing about the idea Jeter might not get my vote is that he's the only mortal lock to reach Cooperstown next summer.
No returning ballot guys are certain unless enough electors suddenly relent on Clemens, Bonds or Schilling, or get all sentimental with Walker.
And among 18 first-year eligibles only one man stands alone among a pedestrian group that includes a few maybes (Jason Giambi? Alfonso Soriano?), but no one besides Jeter with first-ballot heft.
It isn't usual that the BBWAA elects only one man to a class (it last happened in 2012 with Barry Larkin), but the next could well be the man Yankees fans called "The Captain."
Jeter wore No. 2 and has a fighting chance to be only the second man to be swept into Cooperstown unanimously.
It won't be me getting in his way, I swear.
