Derek Jeter’s passage into baseball’s Hall of Fame was as brisk and predictable as Larry Walker’s was arduous and dramatic.
The last of the New York Yankees’ single-digit legends, Jeter on Tuesday just missed becoming the second player shipped off to Cooperstown in unanimous fashion, receiving 396 of 397 votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America. Teammate Mariano Rivera was the first unanimous selection last year.
Walker, whose climb to the 75% vote total required for induction looked impossible just three years ago, earned 76.6% of the vote – getting in by 10 votes –, earning induction in his 10th and final appearance on the ballot.