Derek Jeter and the Hall of Fame
As you know if you pay attention to the Hall of Fame, not one player was elected for enshrinement this season. This news will come much to the delight of those who revel in schadenfreude related to steroid-using Leos (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens), or just plain awful Scorpios (Curt Schilling). This group of snubs means that the last players elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America were Derek Jeter and Larry Walker. And the last time one of that duo made the starting lineup of a Fantasy Astrology Baseball League team was Cap’n Jeets for the 2012 Cancer Crabs. (For reference, Walker’s last appearance for the Sagittarius Archers was a decade earlier in 2003.)
Without doing too much research, it would not be a stretch to call Jeter one of the top Cancer players of all time. The pride of Pequannock, NJ led the American League in plate appearances and base hits in 2012, at the tender age of 38. And what’s more, it was his 17th consecutive season recording at least 150 hits, a feat shared by only the late superstar Hank Aaron. Speaking of Hammerin’ Hank, he is undoubtedly one of the best Aquarius players of all time – if you’re wondering why I didn’t automatically crown him #1, it’s because he happens to share a sign with Babe Ruth and Nolan Ryan.
Jeter’s best fantasy season came in 1999, where he totaled 2,809 points, with an average of 17.8 points per game. These numbers are surely impressive, but remember that the late 90’s was one of the most offensively charged periods in MLB history, what with it being the height of the steroid era and all. That’s not to suggest that Jeter ever used performance enhancing drugs – he has denied it throughout his career. Maybe the pitchers back then were so demoralized by giving up so many home runs to dirty players that they happened to give them up to the clean ones as well? It’s just an interesting coincidence to keep in mind.
If you go back two years from Jeter’s peak, you get the best season of Larry Walker’s career: an NL MVP-winning 1997 campaign that saw him put up a monstrous fantasy line of 3,484 points and 22.8 points per game. Of course, Walker has also gone on record denying steroid use, and I have no reason to doubt him. However in this case, it was the rarefied air of Walker’s home ballpark – Coors Field in Denver – that was partially responsible for the otherworldly numbers he put up throughout his career playing for the Rockies. But despite this caveat, Walker was still one of the game’s best pure hitters, and one who definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame.
The BBWAA ballot is not the only way for legendary figures in baseball to make it to the Hall of Fame. In 2020, along with Jeter and Walker, the Veterans Committee selected pioneer/executive Marvin Miller (former president of the players’ union) and eight-time All-Star Ted Simmons. The Leo catcher spent the majority of his 21-year career (from 1968 to 1988) with the Cardinals, before heading to the Brewers, and then later the Braves. 1975 was his top year in terms of fantasy points (2,086 / 13.3), but five years later Simba would go on to win the inaugural NL Silver Slugger award behind the plate.
Even though Jeter was the player most recently elected to the Hall to appear in a FABL lineup, his last season wasn’t the most recent to feature a Hall of Famer. That honor goes to Jeter’s longtime Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera, who served as one of the top three Sagittarius relievers in 2013. Mo missed all but 9 games in 2012 due to injury, but by that point he had already become MLB’s all-time leader in saves – he set the record in 2011 with 602, and finished his career with 652 after 2013. He is also the only player to be unanimously elected to the HoF, with Jeter right behind him with 99.7% of the vote.
In the next post, I’ll take a break for some analysis of the upcoming 2021 season, after which we’ll return to our year-by-year trip through FABL history.