Marlins CEO Derek Jeter Elected to Cooperstown

Miami Marlins CEO and co-owner Derek Jeter almost unanimously enters the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The only thing that would have been better for Miami Marlins fans than co-owner and CEO Derek Jeter getting into the Hall of Fame this year would have been if the Modern Era Committee had done the right thing and elected team manager Don Mattingly in as well. The former New York Yankees teammates would have been able to share in at least one more memory in their historic careers.

Jeter was elected to the hallowed fraternity one vote shy of a unanimous decision. The 19-year veteran shared the honor this year or making the Hall with former Montreal Expos and Colorado Rockies first baseman/outfielder Larry Walker. For those of you wondering, former Marlins hitting coach Barry Bonds received 60.7 percent of the vote needed to make the trip to Cooperstown. Players need 75 percent of the ballot to be enshrined.

While everything Jeter did on the infield and at the plate is forever remembered by Yankees fans and baseball fans alike, what he is doing in South Florida with the Marlins is for the betterment of the organization – one that has taken a beating since their last winning season of 2009. The past two seasons have been unconditionally rough for Miami and its baseball community, but slowly, the fruits of hard labor and a plan that has been met with less enthusiasm than the Miami Dolphins plan to tank for Tua Tagovailoa.

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I bet you never thought I could make the connection between those two athletes in a baseball story.

Jeter’s commitment to excellence on the field was evident in the way he played the game, the way he worked on getting better each day, the way he became a leader on the field and in the clubhouse and how he was able to work with strong egos in Gotham city and finish a career as one of the greatest Yankees of all time.

That’s a lot to say given the company he keeps with the legends of the Yankee Stadium smiling down on him and his accomplishments.

"“Jeter was unsurprisingly ushered into Cooperstown in his first year on the BBWAA ballot, while Walker finally made it on his 10th and final try. They were the only players to reach the 75-percent threshold in the voting results announced Tuesday night on MLB Network,” Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com wrote.“With his name checked on 396 of the 397 ballots cast, Jeter, the Yankees’ decorated “Captain,” fell just one vote shy of becoming just the second player — joining former teammate and 2019 inductee Mariano Rivera — to be selected unanimously.”"

I kiddingly told a friend of mine who covers baseball down in south Florida that some writer would leave Jeter’s name off a unanimous selection because of their love for the Boston Red Sox. It’s quite possible that is the case.

If the Marlins take on Jeter’s heart and determination and mentality on the field, they will breakthrough at some point this decade. And if that were to happen, it would erase the doubt many of us – including me at times – have had about the direction of this franchise. There won’t be many Marlins on the Hall of Fame ballot that will have an even shot of making the Hall of Fame for some time.

It sounds odd, but Marlins fans should rejoice in Jeter’s triumph and understand he is one of them. He wanted to produce a winner in Miami. It’s only fitting his victory Tuesday night was done in grand fashion.

There is no other way he would have done it then the Jeter way.