Blue Jays: Hall of Fame induction ceremony nearing postponement

It would appear that the Coronavirus pandemic will delay Larry Walker and Derek Jeter from being enshrined in Cooperstown this summer.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, it will be announced later this week that the Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be postponed until 2021 due to the global pandemic that has crippled the entire world.

The ceremony was slated for the July 24th-26th weekend and record crowds were expected to exceed the 100,000 mark for the induction festivities this year. Derek Jeter and Larry Walker were voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA while Ben Simmons and the late Marvin Miller were added by the Modern Baseball Committee.

The decision is completely understandable seeing the state of New York has been hit the hardest by the pandemic and having that many people in such close proximity would be just plain irresponsible.

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You can imagine the draw this summer would have been with Jeter and his Yankees clout coupled with Walker and an entire county behind him. The quaint little baseball town would have been busting at the seams trying to house everyone.

As disappointing as the cancellation is, even Hall of Famer and former Montreal Expos superstar Andre Dawson supported the idea of postponing the event. Dawson spoke to USA Today about the thought of postponing the induction weekend.

"“How could you have an induction ceremony? I wouldn’t want to see it happen. You got to look at well-being of people. You look at the older guys that come here. Think about the crowd. It’s just way too risky.’’"

Dawson hit the nail on the head and is completely correct in his train of thought, it is just too risky to move forward with the event. The actual Hall of Fame has been closed to visitors for some time now following the outbreak of the virus.

I am sure it is definitely disappointing for someone like Walker who waited so long to gain the recognition he so deserved but I guess we will just have to wait a little longer to see Walker rock a Sponge Bob ensemble again.