You could almost hear the bellow of the late great Gene Shepherd announcing Derek Jeter to the plate. "Numbah 2"is heading to Cooperstown after locking down 396 of the maximum 397 votes needed for induction, or 99.7 percent.Nearly perfect, albeit just one vote shy of joining his former Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera as unanimous entries into the Hall of Fame.
It is odd, and, even sad that even after the announcement all Yankees fans, and baseball fans in general for that matter, could talk about was the identity of the lone non-voter, as if it carried the kind of national importance like the identity of Deep Throat or the Zapruder tapes.
Really, seriously, who cares?
Whether it be 99.7 percent or 100 percent, it does not change the fact that Derek Jeter is in the Hall of Fame where he belongs after a storied career in pinstripes.
A lifetime .310 hitter, Jeter played all of his 20 years in Major League Baseball in the Bronx. He played with an old school flare in a era dominated by power and steroids. He excelled where most players faltered. He became the identity of clutch that same way Michael Jordan had ascertained during his storied career with the Chicago Bulls of the NBA.
Whether it be his uncanny ability to deliver the big hit in the big moment, or come up with a tremendous defensive play in the field - a la his back-handed flip in Oakland in the Division series in 2001, Derek Jeter was the definition of success for the Yankees in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
A winner of five World Series titles, a World Series MVP in 2000 against the cross-town Mets, and 14 times an All Star, it's hard not to think of the last 23 years of Yankees baseball and not think of Derek Jeter. He was the face and heart of a dynasty, that is now forevermore etched in baseball immortality.
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