Congrats to Jeter and Walker

Congrats to both Derek Jeter and Larry Walker for being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is a very prestigious honor. Derek made it on his first try and this was Larry's 10th year of voting. Very well deserved on both fronts.

Leading up to the voting, I was perplexed when I saw an example of one of the voters ballot and it had only one person on it - Derek Jeter. I am not disputing that vote, Derek deserved to be voted in on his first try. What I have a problem with is that this voter only voted for one person. The voters have the chance to elect up to 5 or 6 players. The catch is if players do not get a certain number of votes for a year, they drop off the ballot. While I agree that on this ballot Derek Jeter was heads and shoulders above all other players, the other players that are deserving of having the chance to continue their attempt at getting into the Hall of Fame may have been left off. As much as this was frustrating to me, this was not the biggest frustration about the ballot.

I would love to see the ballot of the one voter that did not vote for Derek Jeter. I think he/she should make their ballot public. I would be very interested in seeing who is on that persons ballot. We may even want a drug test on that voter. Serious brain fault.

Although I am a HUGE Red Sox fan, there is not a player I respect more and has meant more to the game, to his team and organization than Derek Jeter. It has been incredible to watch in back to back years Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera be voted into the Hall of Fame. Seeing them enter the Hall of Fame also means I don't have to see them on the field of play anymore.

My favorite moment of Mariano's career was a time in which he blew back to back saves against the Red Sox. The next game the Yankees were at Fenway, the fans gave him a standing ovation when he came onto the field for warm ups. He was smiling and laughing it off. Such a classic guy. I still get teary eyed when I remember in the All Star game that all the players left the field and left him on the mound alone. What a tribute.

The other classy moment in both their careers was in 2005. Opening day against the Red Sox. The Red Sox hoisted their 2004 Championship flag. If you recall, that was the year that the Red Sox rallied from 3 games down to win the series 4-3. I can only imagine how hard it was for the Yankees to watch that celebration, However, and this is a tribute to Joe Torre as well, all the Yankees players were on the dugout steps applauding.

Such class acts and despite one voter being brain dead by not including Derek on their ballot, it is a very very well deserved honor. Congrats Derek!