Derek Jeter and Larry Walker delivered countless memories throughout their MLB careers. Now, they’re headed into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
MLB announced the results of the 2020 National Baseball Hall of Fame election on Tuesday night, revealing that Jeter and Walker are the two newest players who will be a part of immortality with their spots sealed in Cooperstown.
Jeter, a 14-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, retired in 2014 with 3,465 hits, 260 home runs and a .310/.377.440 slash line in his career. Among all-time shortstops, he ranks 15th in OPS (.817), 10th in batting average and sixth in FanGraphs’ WAR (73.1).
He received 99.7% of the votes from writers, falling just one vote shy of joining former teammate Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous selections into the Hall of Fame.
He’ll be joined by Walker, who starred with the Montreal Expos and Colorado Rockies for years. The five-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove Award recipient finished his career with 2,160 hits, 1,311 RBI and 383 home runs. In his final year on the ballot, he received 76.6% of the vote.
As Walker and Jeter prepare for their trip to Cooperstown, others fell quite short. Curt Schilling (70%) fell just short, while Roger Clemens (61%) and Barry Bonds (60.7%) appear to have their hopes of making it into the Hall of Fame dwindling.
As news broke of Jeter and Walker’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the MLB world reacted to their inductions and Jeter falling one vote shy of unanimity.