Whenever players, scouts, coaches, managers or executives discuss Derek Jeter, they always circle back to this comment.

“Derek Jeter played the game right.’’

Those words can be appreciated now more than ever in the wake of the electronic sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed Major League Baseball.

Baseball is in a crisis moment. How the game responds to this terrible loss of integrity will shape its future.

Onto this stage Jeter will be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The only question is: Will Jeter be a unanimous selection?

The Yankees shortstop played the game right in an age when the game has been played wrong. The Astros are at the forefront of the cheating scandal, a scandal that has cost three managers their jobs: Houston’s A.J. Hinch, Boston’s Alex Cora and the Mets’ Carlos Beltran. In addition, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who was the darling of the analytics crowd, was fired.

The game needs Derek Jeter more than ever.

Jeter played in a most serious fashion. He was never linked to any scandal. He did his job every day to the best of his ability, winning five World Series and being named an All-Star 14 times. Even if you were not a Jeter fan, you had to respect the way he went about his business — and that should be celebrated.

There were no shortcuts for Jeter. If he needed to get better at something, he worked at it. He lived in the moment, never looking too far ahead or back. That particular game, that inning, that at-bat was the most important thing in his world.

He was not a fan of the analytics movement that was sweeping across baseball. I remember him telling me one day in the Yankees clubhouse as he pulled up his sanitary socks, “This game is more than numbers, there is a human element, there is a heart and soul and sweat to the game.’’

Baseball is more than numbers. Players are more than assets.

The game is never easy, and Jeter as CEO of the Marlins is learning how difficult it is to build a winning team. He needs to find a Derek Jeter-like player to help his cause.

Over 20 seasons, Jeter collected 3,465 hits, the sixth most in history and the most ever by a shortstop. He knocked in 1,311 runs and scored 1,923 runs. That is a fitting number because 1923 is the year the original Yankee Stadium opened. Not a home run hitter, Jeter managed 260 home runs. He hit .310 with a .377 on-base percentage and .440 slugging percentage over his career.

In the postseason, over 158 games, Jeter batted .308. Mr. Consistency. He produced a .374 on-base percentage and a higher slugging percentage at .465 as he lashed 20 postseason home runs.

Derek Jeter showed up. He never backed away from a challenge and a generation of Yankees fans adore him for the way he played the game, those five rings he won and his allegiance to George Steinbrenner.

He did win five Gold Gloves, even though his range was questioned.

The sixth pick of the 1992 draft came out of Central High School in Kalamazoo, Mich., and soon won over New York City. He did it his way through character and hard work. He played the game to win and with integrity.

The Yankees needed Jeter more than ever and he helped the franchise regain lost glory. The Captain did his job. When he had to make adjustments he made them. He may not have liked doing so, especially on the defensive end, but he knew that it was best for his game.

On this day, baseball needs Derek Jeter to show the way again. Integrity is just as important as batting .300.

Play the game right, do the little things. Trail the play, you may run into a situation where the ball finds you and the runner doesn’t slide at home.

In the end you will be rewarded, and on July 26, Cooperstown will see the largest crowd ever for an induction, beating the mark set in 2007 by Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn at 82,000 fans.

They will come to honor the Captain — who played the game right.