New York Yankees‘ legend Derek Jeter, who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame earlier in the year, will likely have to wait until next year to be introduced to immortality.
Because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak affecting the United States and the world, virtually any gathering of multiple people is being avoided in most states, save for a few exceptions. MLB had to suspend the start of the season, for example, and it is still struggling to come up with a set date.
That means that the National Baseball Hall of Fame remains closed, and will likely stay that way for a while given the situation.
Yankees’ fans will have to wait
For Yankees’ fans, though, this year’s ceremony was going to be huge. Jeter, an idol for an entire generation, was going to enter the Hall in July. However, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, the Hall of Fame is expected to announce this week that their induction ceremony weekend, scheduled to take place July 24-26, will be postponed until 2021.
The Hall will meet this week with board members to decide the fate of this year’s ceremony, but given the huge effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most likely outcome, per Nightengale, will be pushing it back to next year.
“How could you have an induction ceremony?’’ Hall of Famer Andre Dawson told USA TODAY Sports. “I wouldn’t want to see it happen. You got to look at well-being of people. You look at the older guys that come here. Think about the crowd. It’s just way too risky.’’
A total of 38 Hall of Famers are 70 years or older, and 19 are least 80 years old. There is little point in exposing these people to the risk of COVID-19.
“I know how important it is to the people in upstate New York for the induction, and how pleasurable it is to us to all of the Hall of Famers, but you can’t bring in everyone, not when people are dying at home,” said Dawson, who owns and operates the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home in Richmond Heights, Florida.
New York Yankees’ fans will likely have to wait until 2021 to see their idol immortalized.