The Baseball Writers’ Association of America member who left Derek Jeter off their Hall of Fame ballot will remain anonymous.
Back in January, there was a massive conversation regarding if legendary New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter would be a unanimous Hall of Famer. Everyone knew the longtime Bomber was going to find himself in Cooperstown. Nonetheless, there had only been one unanimous selection before, and that was Mariano Rivera in 2019.
And then, we received our answer. All of the writers did indeed vote for Jeter…except for one. That’s right. Out of the 397 total ballots, Jeter was on 396 of them, causing not just Yankees fans, but baseball fans around the globe to become outraged.
Many thought that the name of the specific voter would then be revealed. Nevertheless, the BWAA released 317 of the ballots on Tuesday, all of which possessed Jeter. That means the other 80, including the non-Jeter voter, wished for anonymity.
This, again, is causing controversy. Fans want this unknown writer to face the music and explain why they didn’t include one of the greatest Yankees of all time on their ballot. At the end of the day, there has to be a reason why this person ultimately believed Jeter wasn’t worthy.
Maybe we’ll find out who made this extremely crucial decision at some point in our lives. But until then, this individual will be taking the Steve Bartman approach to the situation.
Jeter’s official induction will take place on Sunday, July 26. It’ll be part of Hall of Fame Weekend 2020, which occurs July 24-27.