Derek Jeter may have been just one vote short of a unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, but he will still have to wait another year before he is enshrined.
As will Larry Walker and the rest of this year's class, after the Hall of Fame announced yesterday that it has canceled the July 26 induction ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jeter and Walker were to be inducted with catcher Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, the pioneering players' union head who negotiated free agency and transformed the sport.
Instead, the class will be included at next year's induction festivities—along with any additional new choices—on July 25, 2021.
"In heeding the advice of government officials as well as federal, state and local medical and scientific experts, we chose to act with extraordinary caution in making this decision," Jane Forbes Clark, chairperson for the Hall, said in a statement.
This will be the first year without an induction ceremony since 1960. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum closed at the end of the day on March 15 due to the virus outbreak.
Source: ESPN