Countdown to 2020

No longer batting: Number 2, Derek Jeter.

The curtain has fallen on the Yankee Captain’s magical 20-year career. His next stop: Cooperstown in 2020.

While nothing is ever assured when it comes to election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (after all, it is the responsibility of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to vote on each year’s candidates), who among us would doubt that Jeter is a sure-fire first-ballot choice when he becomes eligible in 2020?

Jeter’s grand finale has spurred a look to the future and speculation of his Hall of Fame election.

Twenty-eight players have reached the 90 percent mark of ballots cast in a Hall of Fame election. Tom Seaver’s 98.84 percent of all ballots cast in 1992 remains the plurality benchmark. Ty Cobb was named on 216 of 220 ballots cast in the inaugural election of 1936, with his four votes representing the fewest number missed in any election. Jeter could eclipse all marks, considering his widespread popularity.

But of more immediate note, his retirement provides a fantastic glimpse back at his legendary career, through more than a dozen artifacts Jeter has generously donated to Cooperstown.

Jeter’s ties to the Museum dates back to almost the beginning of his illustrious career. In 1996, the Yankees won their first of five World Championships during Jeter’s career. The home jersey he wore in the ’96 World Series was the first artifact he donated to the Museum, capping his Rookie of the Year award-winning campaign.

As the Yankees success grew with World Series titles in 1998 and 2000, so, too, did Jeter’s generosity with Cooperstown, donating bats from both the ’98 and ’00 Series, as well as the batting helmet from 2000, when he was named World Series Most Valuable Player. The 2000 season was a banner one for Jeter: The bat he used in the All-Star Game that summer in Atlanta when he was also named MVP of that game, also donated to the Hall of Fame.

Since that time, artifacts ranging from his 2006 World Baseball Classic jersey to the cap he wore at this past summer’s All-Star Game in Minneapolis in his final Mid-Summer Classic have been donated to the Hall of Fame.

The 6-foot-3 Jeter, for example, played an incredible 150-or-more games at shortstop in 11 of his 20 big league seasons, never appearing at another defensive position and finishing just 35 games behind 5-foot-9 Omar Vizquel for the top spot among games played at shortstop.

Jeter reached double figures in home runs in 16 seasons and totaled 544 doubles, second among shortstops behind only Ripken among players who played at least 75 percent of their games at shortstop. Using the same 75 percent standard, Jeter ranks third among shortstops in home runs (260, behind Ripken and Miguel Tejada) and second in extra-base hits (870, behind Ripken).

By the time Jeter becomes Hall of Fame-eligible in 2020, Vizquel – owner of 11 Gold Glove Awards and 2,877 hits – may be waiting for him in Cooperstown, having himself become eligible in 2018.

The outstanding careers of both men demonstrate that the shortstop position can be played successfully – even Cooperstown worthily – in many ways.