The Hall of Fame induction wait is over for Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter spent two years waiting for this moment, though in reality, it’s a role he’d been preparing for all his life.

He came one vote shy of a unanimous selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame right before the world went on pause in 2020, and though last year’s ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19, this Wednesday will mark his official induction into a place he seemed destined for throughout his career.

He, along with Larry Walker and Ted Simmons, will take the stage in Cooperstown at 1:30 p.m. for an induction ceremony that will be free and open to the public, and also broadcast on MLB Network. Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the players association, will be inducted posthumously.

Simmons, the eight-time All Star with the Cardinals, Brewers and Atlanta, was voted in by the Veterans Committee.

"It’s hard to put into words," Jeter said shortly after the vote. "I didn’t want to talk about it [before] because I didn’t want to jinx any opportunity that I might have. I never took this for granted and I understand that these are the best players to ever play the game and when you’re in it [and playing] you don’t necessarily sit down and view yourself that way. … It’s an emotional time. It’s a time of reflection and it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of years have gone into this and this is the highest honor."

He said last week that he tried his best not to put too many expectations on the whole thing, and even then, as the day to the official ceremony got closer, he tempered himself. His speech was still a work in progress, and Jeter spoke almost as if dreaming too hard about induction would cause it to disappear.

"I'm hoping that it happens next week," he said. "You know, there were so many things going on in the world that for the first year I really didn't think about it much. Early on, I was getting excited for it and then it was canceled, and then your mind goes other places. So, I’m looking forward to getting up there next week — hopefully, I'm knocking on wood. But yeah, it's been a long time coming."

And while Jeter’s induction always seemed to be a matter of course, Walker’s was far less so — something he reflected on over and over, both when he was first voted in and again last week during a Zoom conference with reporters.

In his first year on the ballot, in 2011, Walker received 20.3% of the vote, but as the voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America became more appreciative of his contributions to the game, the number slowly ballooned. Finally, in his last year of eligibility, he took home 76.57%, just enough to push him over the 75% threshold. EMBED1

It’s likely he’ll go in as a Rockie, making him the first person from that franchise in the Hall. He's left open the possibility of going in as an Expo — he started his career there in Montreal and is Canadian. The whole thing has left him excited, anticipatory and very, very sleepless.

"As we get closer and closer, and now we're within a week, there’s nights where I don’t go to sleep," he said. "And when I do go to sleep, it's not for very long because I'm waking up and it's all going through my head. So, believe me butterflies are here, right now. And there's a lot of them."

Two years of waiting (and 10 more before that) will do that to you.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.