New York Yankees: Will Derek Jeter Make HOF Unanimously?

After Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous vote into the Cooperstown, the attention turns to his former Yankees teammate Derek Jeter. Will he make it in unanimously?

New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera is arguably the best closer ever to toe the rubber (I disagree) and he gave a great speech on Sunday. He mentioned how he and his former teammate Derek Jeter were both sent down on the same day in 1995, but obviously, we know they both got brought up and became baseball legends in the Bronx.

Rivera may have some company in the “Unanimous Hall of Famer Club” after next year’s voting because there are some impressive first-year names including ‘The Captain’.

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When Rivera was on the ballot, there was some debate on if a reliever should have been the first unanimous player to be inducted because Ken Griffey Jr. only got 99% and he was a center fielder that played every day every inning. But if Rivera didn’t get the unanimous vote, I am sure Jeter would have gotten it.

Jeter will join Rivera as the only two players that every single writer agreed they should be in Cooperstown, which is hard to do considering there are voters who cover the rivals of these players who are nominated.

But Derek Jeter deserves getting 100% of the votes. In his storied 20 year career, he hit .310 with an OPS of .817 in addition to leading his team to 4 World Series Championships for the Yankees.

In 12 of those 20 seasons, he hit over .300 and in 14 of the 20 he was an All-Star. Oh and by the way, he won the Rookie of the Year in 1996, 5 Gold Gloves at shortstop, 5 Silver Sluggers, an All-Star Game MVP, and a World Series MVP.

There is only 5 players with more career hits than he has and only 10 players have more runs scored than Jeter does.

And to be the elite of the elite you have to produce in the postseason. Check.

In a combined 16 years and 33 postseason series he hit .308 with 20 home runs in addition to displaying tremendous defense including one of the most famed plays in postseason history.

So, I think it is safe to say Derek Jeter is going to be in Cooperstown on July 26 of 2020 as the 2nd unanimous Hall of Famer in history.