Derek Jeter: Yes, ONE guy didn't vote for him

This week Major League Baseball announced that Derek Jeter was elected to the Hall of Fame.

That, of course, is hardly a surprise. It's hardly a mystery that Jeter won the honor in his first year of eligibility. What is the shocker of the event is that it was not a unanimous choice.

There was one sportswriter who didn't pick him. And that's an outrage.

To quote Rich Eisen: "Whoever does not think Derek Jeter is Hal of Fame worthy – you gotta check yourself because you have a screw loose! Who the hell is the ONE guy?! I need that guy of lady to present themselves."

Of course, there's a record to justify that Jeter is maybe the best shortstop in the world – a combination of athlete and Mother Teresa. He's someone nearly as gifted as teammate and relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, selected last year – the first chosen unanimously.

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Here's the case: 14-time All-Star. Five World Series rings. World Series most valuable player. Five Gold Gloves. Five Silver Slugger awards. Sixth all-time in career hits in MLB history, a .310 hitter with 3,465 base hits. The American League Rookie of the Year for 1996. Captain of the team – the New York Yankees, no less, the winningest franchise in all of sports.

However, there's a reason many wonder if the guy who cast this vote is actually an accredited sportswriter – to defy the odds and fail to cast a vote for Jeter like 396 others did.

Maybe it's because you had to watch Jeter play a lot to appreciate him.

He is probably best-known for a play he seemed unlikely to make.

It was known simply as "the flip."

It was a play he didn't have any business making – as a shortstop.

It came in the 2001, in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the American League division series. The Yankees were winning 1-0 in a game against the 102-win Oakland Athletics. The Yanks had just 95 wins.

With a runner on first base, Oakland's Terrence Long hit a doubles to the right-field corner that was fielded cleanly by Shane Spencer. Jeremy Giambi, Oakland's designated hitter, was rounding third base and trying to score from first when Spencer threw the ball over the heads of two cutoff men toward catcher Jorge Posada.

But what was Jeter doing in the play?

There he was, streaking across the field, securing the ball and "flipping" it home.

Posada wheeled around and tagged an unsuspected Giambi, who didn't even think to slide.

"You're not going to see that play ever again," Luis Sojo, a utility man for the Yankees, said after the game.

He was right. Nobody had any business making that play.

See "the flip":

There were other special plays by Jeter that set him apart – like this one against the dreaded Red Sox no less. How can you count on that? With Jeter at shortstop, you took it for granted.

You had to watch the guy. If you were a sports fan, you had to see him play. And maybe that's why we're all wondering who that sportswriter was who didn't vote for Jeter.