The Baseball Writers’ Association of America unveiled their 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting results Tuesday, and two players passed the cutoff (75 percent of votes) to earn a Hall of Fame selection. Those would be former New York Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter and former Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals’ outfielder Larry Walker. Jeter was on 396 of the 397 ballots (99.7 percent) cast by selected 10-year members of the BBWAA, while Walker received 304 votes (76.6 percent), six above the cutoff point of 298. Here’s the full list of results:
2020 Hall of Fame
| Player | Votes (Percent) | Years on ballot |
|---|---|---|
| Derek Jeter | 396 (99.7) | 1 |
| Larry Walker | 304 (76.6) | 10 |
| Curt Schilling | 278 (70.0) | 8 |
| Roger Clemens | 242 (61.0) | 8 |
| Barry Bonds | 241 (60.7) | 8 |
| Omar Vizquel | 209 (52.6) | 3 |
| Scott Rolen | 140 (35.3) | 3 |
| Billy Wagner | 126 (31.7) | 5 |
| Gary Sheffield | 121 (30.5) | 6 |
| Todd Helton | 116 (29.2) | 2 |
| Manny Ramírez | 112 (28.2) | 4 |
| Jeff Kent | 109 (27.5) | 7 |
| Andruw Jones | 77 (19.4) | 3 |
| Sammy Sosa | 55 (13.9) | 8 |
| Andy Pettitte | 45 (11.3) | 2 |
| Bobby Abreu | 22 (5.5) | 1 |
| Paul Konerko | 10 (2.5) | 1 |
| Jason Giambi | 6 (1.5) | 1 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 6 (1.5) | 1 |
| Eric Chávez | 2 (0.5) | 1 |
| Cliff Lee | 2 (0.5) | 1 |
| Adam Dunn | 1 (0.3) | 1 |
| Brad Penny | 1 (0.3) | 1 |
| Raúl Ibañez | 1 (0.3) | 1 |
| J.J. Putz | 1 (0.3) | 1 |
| Josh Beckett | 0 | 1 |
| Heath Bell | 0 | 1 |
| Chone Figgins | 0 | 1 |
| Rafael Furcal | 0 | 1 |
| Carlos Peña | 0 | 1 |
| Brian Roberts | 0 | 1 |
| José Valverde | 0 | 1 |
Here’s video of Walker getting the call that told him he was in:
He later spoke about his reaction further on MLB Network:
“I think I was quoted earlier as sending something out that I didn’t think it was happening, and I actually truly meant that. I had the numbers in my head and was prepared for no call. And then the opposite happened, and that call comes, and all of a sudden, you can’t breathe. So the day flew by pretty quick, but when that phone rang and I saw the number, your heart skips a beat.”
That’s very cool for Walker and for his friends and family, and for some of the groups that have supported him; Walker becomes only the second Canadian-born player (after Fergie Jenkins, selected in 1991) and the first Canadian-born position player to make the Hall, and he also becomes the first member of the Colorado Rockies to make the Hall. And yes, that is a SpongeBob Squarepants shirt Walker is wearing. Tremendous.
Meanwhile, this is also a memorable day for Jeter, even if there was very little question that he was going to get in. And while he didn’t quite hit the unanimous selection threshold, only former teammate Mariano Rivera has ever done that; Jeter’s 99.7 percent beats out Ken Griffey Jr’s 99.3 percent in 2016 as the second-highest percentage of all time. It hasn’t been revealed yet who didn’t vote for Jeter, but there will certainly be plenty of discussion about that in the days ahead. In the meantime, Walker and Jeter have a lot to celebrate. They’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of Induction Weekend from July 24-27, which will also honor Modern Baseball Era Committee selections Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller and Ford C. Frick Award winner Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Nick Cafardo.
[BBWAA]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.