Former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was just one vote shy of being unanimous, 396 of 397 voters voted for him
Out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Jeter played 20 seasons in the MLB. He won the rookie of the year award in 1995, his first full season. He won five silver slugger awards and five gold gloves.
Jeter won the Yankees five World Series rings in his time in pinstripes. He won the World Series MVP and All-Star game MVP in 2000. Jeter was an all-star an incredible 14 times. The only flaw in his Hall of Fame career is the fact that he never won a league MVP award.
Over his career, he had 12,602 plate appearances and 11,195 at-bats. He got hits in 3,465 at-bats with a career average of .310. Jeter drove in 1311 runs and hit 260 home runs. One of those home runs was his 3,000th career hit, the second player to ever do that. Wade Boggs was the first, and Alex Rodriguez would later become the third.
Jeter’s slugging was .440, his OBP was .377, and his OPS was .817 over his career. He drew 1082 walks. On defense, Jeter had a .976 fielding percentage with 254 career errors. He rolled 1408 double plays. Jeter also stole 358 career bases, as he was one of the fastest players in the MLB earlier in his career.
All of these stats combine to a career 72.4 WAR for the captain. He’s 88th all-time in career WAR.
Larry Walker was also elected to the Hall of Fame.
Congrats to Derek Jeter on a historic career. This nomination is incredibly well-deserved.