NEW YORK — Derek Jeter and Larry Walker sat side by side on Wednesday afternoon, wearing the same gleaming jerseys issued by the Hall of Fame. It did not matter that Jeter had reached baseball immortality on his first try, or that Walker got there on his 10th. Nor was there anything on the new uniforms to denote that one had just inched past the threshold of election, while the other had garnered every vote but one. Their fate was identical. They’re headed for Cooperstown. In this way, the details don’t matter.



Nor does the identity of the lone mystery voter, the one that chose not to cast a ballot for Jeter. As far as enshrinement, it made zero difference. At 99.75 percent, Jeter sailed over the threshold of 75 percent.



Nevertheless, there is something troubling about the voting process, and it’s an issue that won’t be going away as future ballots continue to be complicated by PED-associated figures and controversy. Full...