When it was announced last week that Derek Jeter is going to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during his first year on the ballot, it came as a surprise to nobody. However, many people, including myself, were surprised to see that he came up just one vote short of being a unanimous selection into the Hall of Fame.

It doesn’t take an expert analyst to look at Jeter’s career stats and see he is a definite first ballot Hall of Famer. In addition to his personal stats and accolades, he won five World Series Championships during his 20 years as a New York Yankee. Additionally, Jeter spent his entire career with the Yankees, he spent the majority of his career as a captain, a leader that people looked up to and the face of baseball.

This fact brings up another aspect of Jeter’s career that strengthens his case for the Hall of Fame. During his career, Jeter was never caught up in any major scandals. I think that this is especially important to note in the modern era of baseball, where performance-enhancing drug (PED) use and cheating accusations seem to constantly plague the sport.

Jeter stood in stark contrast to his longtime teammate Alex Rodriguez, who became one of the biggest names to be accused of using PED’s.

Some of the biggest names still on the ballot that haven’t been inducted yet, such as Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, are being held back because their careers will always be tainted by PED use, and I personally hope that they are never inducted after cheating their way to success in the MLB.

After Mariano Rivera became the first player to be unanimously inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, it would seem fitting for his longtime teammate to achieve the same feat a year later. However, one anonymous voter prevented this from happening, which shows a glaring flaw in the MLB’s Hall of Fame voting procedure.

Personally, I think if someone is considered to have enough baseball knowledge to decide who gets into the Hall of Fame, then they should be able to publicly defend their choices regarding who they did and did not vote for. The one person who did not vote for Jeter will probably never be identified or have to give a reason.

Some people might argue that it is better for MLB Hall of Fame voters to remain anonymous because it reduces the influence of outside forces on the vote.

However, the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee is published on the organization’s website, and I don’t think that many people go to committee members and try to lobby or bribe players into Canton.

Nevertheless, just like Jeter said when asked about missing the unanimous vote, he is going to focus on all of the votes that he did get, not focus on the one he missed.

Looking back on his career, Derek Jeter is one of the players that has defined the modern era of MLB, and will go down as one of the greatest to ever play.