The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2020 Hall of Fame ballot today, ranging from players such as Chone Figgins to Curt Schilling. There are a lot of interesting storylines. How does the voting share project Todd Helton on his second year, as a player who spent his entire career at Coors Field? Do Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds finally sneak in? Do we see a major jump for credible offensive candidates who were more renown for their defense, such as Andruw Jones, Omar Vizquel and Scott Rolen? Will Larry Walker, a clear-cut Hall of Famer, finally get that call to the Hallowed Halls of Cooperstown in his final opportunity? However, nobody has a better case, seemingly, than Derek Jeter. 

I’d like to preface this piece with my belief that anybody who reached the 3,000 hit threshold that Jeter reached should automatically be first ballot, with the exception of obvious sticky situations such as Rafael Palmeiro and Pete Rose. It’s an absolute joke that it took Craig Biggio three ballots to reach enshrinement, even if his numbers outside of 3,000 scream borderline. Any player that can stay healthy enough for around 20 years, without seeing a dip in their contact rate to reach this achievement, compiler or not, is a Hall of Fame ballplayer. They may not scream “Hall of Fame” (especially considering solid but not great players such as Nick Markakis and Starlin Castro are currently on pace for 3,000 hits by their age 40 season), but there’s something to celebrate about that consistency to stay at the highest level and perform for that long of a time period. Only 10 players in the club, Jeter and Biggio included, played for one team in their career (the others: Yount, Yastrzemski, Gwynn, Brett, Clemente, Musial, Ripken and Kaline). On this merit, and this merit alone, Derek Jeter is the definition of a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

Up until last year, baseball had never seen a unanimous Hall of Famer. Ken Griffey Jr. became the closest in 2016 being named 99.32% of the ballots, breaking Tom Seaver’s 98.84% share in 1992. However, in 1995, 4 young studs in the New York Yankees system came out and defined a generation of baseball. Two of them—Jeter and Mariano Rivera—threatened the 100% mark by putting on a show in the Bronx for the better part of 2 decades and bringing the Yankees 5 of their 27 championships as part of a core that included ballplayers such as Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams. Last year, Mariano Rivera broke 100%, a first for the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year, Derek Jeter looks to do the same thing. 

The Case For Unanimous Selection:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jWXg6orGQ]

With everything pushed back a week following the terrorist attacks in Manhattan on September 11th, the 2001 playoffs bled into the month of November for the first time in the history of baseball. In Game 4 of the World Series, with 2-outs in the 10th, Derek Jeter was 0-4 on the night. However, he ambushed a pitch against the Diamondbacks’ Byung-Hyun Kim, sending all of New York into a frenzy as the Bronx Bombers’ took the ballgame 4-3 in dramatic fashion. This was just yet another of Derek Jeter’s postseason heroics that we’d all grown accustom to at this point. But now, he was deemed “Mr. November.”

Earlier that the postseason, Jeter had his signature defensive play, labelled “The Flip” in the American League Division Series against a very good Oakland A’s ballclub.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApoJk9X7Vto]

His postseason acumen is as impressive as any, he won the 2000 World Series MVP against crosstown rival Mets, his fourth of five World Series victories in pinstripes. He played 158 playoff games over his career, just four shy of a full season. He hit an .838 OPS over these games, with 20 homeruns and 61 RBI as primarily a leadoff hitter. 

His regular season resume is the model of consistency. Over 20 seasons, he played minimum 150 games 13 times. He played minimum 145 on 16 occasions. If you want a guy that would be reliable health wise over a full 162, you didn’t look any further than Derek Jeter. Over his 20 year career, Jeter collected 3465 hits, good enough for sixth all-time, behind Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Tris Speaker. His power wasn’t a huge threat, but he did have some pop for a middle infielder, abusing the short porch to hit 260 homeruns, averaging 15 over a full season. His 72.5 BBRef WAR also bodes in his favor, as Jay Jaffe’s JAWS has the average Hall of Fame shortstop at a 67 WAR. He isn’t close to the best shortstop to garner a plaque, but he also isn’t bottom of the barrel (sorry, Rabbit Maranville). The JAWS statistic has him around the 12th best shortstop in baseball history, which sounds about right. All 11 in front of him are enshrined with the exception of Bill Dahlen and former teammate Alex Rodriguez. 

Jeter stole 358 bases and hit a stellar .310 lifetime, making a strong case in the traditional statistics, even if the analytics don’t favor him as much as the old school numbers may. Jeter was a 14x All-Star, that won 4 Silver Slugger awards, 5 Gold Glove awards and was the 1996 Rookie of the Year. Despite never winning an MVP, Jeter does have the hardware to back it up.

The other thing that has to be said about Jeets is that he inspired a generation of shortstops, such as Troy Tulowitzki and Willy Adames. Since Jeter, the jump throw has become a commonplace, popping off the screen to become larger than life and inspire every young child watching. While, statistics may not show this, this definitely has to be taken into consideration. The way he handled the New York media for 20 years as a soft-spoken superstar is certainly impressive.

The Case Against Unanimous Selection:

This is where the case halts, however, as he isn’t even the best player on the 2020 Hall of Fame ballot. 

I present to you, Larry Walker, who I will do a write-up on later this week. 
Ryan Spaeder put up a tweet on November 5th (that I currently can’t find, but you can follow him on Twitter @TheAceofSpaeder) comparing the two. Walker, who is in his final year of eligibility compared to Jeter’s first is so far ahead of Jeter in every facet. Jeter’s .310/.377/.440 slashline pales in comparison to Walker’s .313/.400/.565 slashline. His 72.4 BBRef War is lower than Walker’s 72.7, his 115 OPS+ and 119 wRC+ don’t come close to matching Walker’s 141 and 140 in those respective statistics. Traditionally? Walker’s health issues brought down his hit total, but he hit 383 HR to Jeter’s 260, hit for better batting average and drove in just as many runs. He also won 7 Gold Gloves with a 93.9 defensive runs saved, meaning over his career he saved a rounded up 94 runs with his glove. 

This isn’t a Walker piece, but I almost don’t want to bring up Jeter’s defense now it’s that poor in comparison. Derek Jeter had a -243.3 defensive runs saved. He cost his team a rounded 243 runs over his career just by playing the field. Granted, you can’t really compare a middle infielder to a right fielder, but this just points out how massively overrated Derek Jeter’s defense is. A weak arm, with poor range, the only thing that made up for it was an excellent baseball IQ. If Derek Jeter wasn’t a Yankee, he doesn’t win those Gold Gloves.

Are those 5 Gold Gloves even of value? Considering Yolmer Sanchez just won one, not likely. I’d like to go back to 1999. Rafael Palmiero, whose name has already come up in this editorial, played only 28 out of a possible 162 games at first base for the Rangers. He was primarily their designated hitter that season. He won a Gold Glove and didn’t even play the field for a quarter of the season. Are Gold Gloves really a good way to measure the quality of a defender when you get winners like that? 

One of my favorite defensive statistics is UZR, because of how telling it is. UZR takes where the ball is hit on every opportunity a fielder has, and if the average fielder gets to it. The more above average plays they make, the better the UZR is. It’s a lot more focused on range than say fielding percentage, which is only accounted for if you touch the ball with your glove. Jeter won Gold Gloves in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. His UZR in these years were not all that great, bearing in mind that not every team gets an eligible shortstop to qualify for the stat. In 2004, his UZR was ranked 13th of all eligible shortstops. In 2005, it was ranked 24th out of all eligible shortstops. In 2006 it was 21st. In 2009, it was actually not too shabby at 4th. In 2010, he was ranked 15th. His entire career, outside of 2009, he was average or below-average defensively, despite the hardware. Other than catcher, he played what many consider to be the most valuable defensive position in baseball. He didn’t even win any defensive (or offensive) awards as a shortstop until the Rangers traded elite shortstop Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees following an injury to Aaron Boone before the 2004 season. A-Rod was a far superior player both offensively and defensively, but due to Jeter’s weak arm that couldn’t make the throw from the hot corner, and A-Rod’s range complimenting Jeter’s, Rodriguez was the player who moved to third base for the remainder of his career. That means, for the last 10 years of Derek Jeter’s career he wasn’t even the best shortstop on his own His -14.7 defensive WAR is the worst of any player, any position in the history of the sport. 

However, if he’s not the best shortstop on his own club, then he isn’t the best player on his own club. Before Alex Rodriguez got there, he wasn’t the best player either. In 2003, teammates Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi and Alfonso Soriano finished ahead of him in MVP voting. In 2002, Giambi, Soriano and Bernie Williams were the only Yankees even considered for the award. In 2001, Roger Clemens finished 8th, while Jeter didn’t even make the top 10 in voting. Clemens (who’s also up for Hall of Fame enshrinement), Jeter, Rivera and Tino Martinez were all in the top 15 of voting. For most of the early Yankee years, he was playing with already established surefire Hall of Famers such as Tim Raines and Wade Boggs. Other than 1998, when he should’ve beaten Juan Gonzalez for AL MVP, he was never the best player on his own team, much less the best player in the sport or at his position. He was only worth 8 WAR once, per BBRef measurements. 

With players such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle not getting 100% of the vote, how can we make a case for a guy who was never the best player on his own team? How can we make a case for a guy who was far worse at his position than say, an Alan Trammel, who just got it in 2 years ago on the Veterans Committee? 

On a different note, Jeter deserves a lot of praise for his postseason heroics. However, the “no stat for winning” argument isn’t that deep because if that’s the case, there’s no stat for losing either. He also led them to 5 ALDS losses, and 2 ALCS losses, including the worst collapse in sports history that led to the Manny Ramirez-led Sox breaking the Curse of the Bambino in 2004. One can also argue that some of his postseason heroics were a fluke, dare I mention Jeff Maier? 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVNlvnsQ828]

The legend of Derek Jeter was built on postseason homeruns like this, but obviously as you can see, a young fan reached over on an otherwise loud warning track flyout to future teammate Tony Tarasco. 

Derek Jeter never played a season where the Yankees went under .500, but he was just a small role in a big puzzle, granted he did that role rather well. The Yankees could afford to get any player they want to find that missing piece, whether it was a Mike Mussina or a CC Sabathia. Surrounding Jeter with a perennial All-Star lineup and Hall of Fame pitching his entire career takes off a lot of pressure. Does he put up the numbers he put up with the Yankees if he played for the Padres? If he does, he’s of course Tony Gwynn revered, and rightfully so, but it’s hard to see he does that without the protection he was lucky to have. 

How can we mark off an Ozzie Smith for his offense, but not mark off a Derek Jeter for his defensive? It’s just as important at the end of the day. How can you be the greatest at your position of all-time if you’re the worst defender at it? How does that correlate to the greatest of all-time period, when you aren’t even the best player on your own team? Mariano Rivera was rightfully 100% unanimous in 2019 because he was far and away the greatest at his position. Derek Jeter is not. Derek Jeter isn’t a top 5 Yankee of all-time, when you compare him to the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, among others. 

Also consider that since retirement, Jeter hasn’t been the most popular face in the sport, notorious for his antics as the Marlins owner and the fact that a lot of his personal past has come into more light. That said, I don’t think this should go against Jeter, but I’m not the one with a ballot to mail in. 

Derek Jeter has a lot of things going for him: he was larger than life. He did outside celebrity spots such as Seinfeld (pictured above) which was the biggest show on cable television in the 1990s. He had the signature plays, the big hits in the right spots. He’s the guy you wanted up that for good reason was universally loved in the biggest market in sports. He has 3,000 hits, obvious enshrinement. But this unanimous talk must end, and hopefully it doesn’t happen. I don’t think there’s a way for anybody to justify Derek Jeter getting 100% of the vote. That said, I can’t imagine being the guy leaving him off and having to explain to a couple million angry Yankee fans why he did such, and thankfully I’m not in that predicament. In conclusion, solid everyday player who did more than enough to warrant enshrinement but not the greatest of all-time like people would have you believe. 

Pro Sports Extra will have more Hall of Fame coverage available throughout the offseason and again in July. 

Follow me on Twitter: @TheJameus
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