Well I see that Larry Walker has joined Chili Davis and Lee Smith in the Hall of Fame. Idiots are still leaving Curt Schilling off the ballot because he's an outspoken Republican. One idiot even left Derek Jeter off the ballot so he failed to get in without a unanimous vote. He now joins Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax and Henry Aaron who also had some writers who left them off too...
Only 1 player has ever been unanimous, right? Rivera last year was the first. They publish a lot of the votes, but I don't think they publish them all. I think they should publish them all and the idiot who left him off should have to explain what he was thinking.
Jeter took the high road. When asked what he thought of the one person who did not vote for him he responded that he was only thinking about the people who did.
From Columbus? Another Buckeye disinformation campaign. Here is his biography re his youth: ——————————— Derek Jeter was born in Pequannock, New Jersey to Charles and Dorothy Jeter; however, most of his childhood was spent in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is of mixed race. Jeter grew up as a Yankee fan, going to Yankee games in the summers that he spent with his grandmother in New Jersey. Jeter was a star baseball player at Kalamazoo Central High School, where he also played basketball, and in 1992 he was named High School Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Although he received a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, he followed his dream of playing for the New York Yankees after they drafted him with the 6th pick overall in the 1992 amateur draft. However, after the 1992 Summer League he did attend the University of Michigan.
Bobda, I probably should have stated that a bit differently. His Dad use to come into a local restaurant that I patronized often. His dad had an excavating company and he was always mentioning his son. Dad's handle was "we dig Columbus" I guess I assumed his family lived here in Columbus. No misinformation intended.
No problem, Don. Michiganders perhaps are a little hypersensitive after Ohio took Toledo from us. And the last 20 years of Tressel and Urban have only made matters worse. Thought a line being drawn was needed if the next Ohio conquest involved you guys claiming Jeter as a native son of Ohio.
Derek Jeter was drafted in the 6th spot in the 1992 MLB draft. The five in front of him were all college players; he was drafted out of high school. Phil Nevin was taken #1 … he went on to coach 3B for the Yankees. The Reds almost took Jeter in the 5th spot but opted for Chad Mottola instead. That's why they are the Reds.
In 1992 the Reds had 28 yr. old Barry Larkin. Shortstop was the least of their needs in that year. Did they miss on a future HOFer? In hindsight, of course. So did 4 other teams. The same thing happened with every other HOF player drafted other than #1. Every single MLB team has missed on a future HOF player, most more than once.
I get your point, Sid but Jeter was 18 years old. He was 3+ years away from his firs MLB at bat. He could be groomed to play another position short term ( Like A-Rod and Jeter did ), he could have been traded for other needs, Larkin could have been re-positioned in 1996 or traded for other needs while his value was still high.
George, I agree that in hindsight all those are logical and perhaps advisable scenarios. We don't know the Reds' thinking at the time. My point was that a team drafts for several reasons, current and future need being one of them. Another would be the best player available. Who knows what their scouting and analysis told them? How many eventual HOF players were passed over by all teams for various reasons? The fact that they passed on Jeter does not make them a bad organization at that time. They were 2 years removed from a WS sweep of the A's, so they still had a solid core to work with. Now, Reds management of the past 20 or so years deserves criticism, but I don't fault their decision in 1992 to pass on Jeter. That's all I'm saying.
Omar Vizquel had a pretty good jump in his % so he may be on track to make it. When interviewed about his good showing all he wanted to know was who the h*** didn't put Jeter on the ballot.