A Conversation about Hall of Fame Shortstops

by Joe Cantiello 
 
As of August 17, 2009, Derek Jeter has 2675 hits as a shortstop, the most of any shortstop in major league history. Luis Aparicio the Hall of Fame player Jeter just passed on the hit list, has the next most at 2669. Omar Vizquel, (surprise!) has the next most hits for a shortstop at 2669. Does Vizquel even enter into the HOF conversation on the day he retires?  

Derek “Mr. November” Jeter has quite an impressive resume… Among his many honors, a Rookie of the Year award, ten all-star designations, three Gold Gloves and he has finished as high as third in the MVP voting. Not to mention, he was a key cog to four of the Yankee’s championships. 

Louis “Little Louie” Aparicio has a similar resume with his own Rookie of the Year award, nine all-star designations, eight Gold Gloves and he has finished as high as second in the MVP voting.

Omar Vizquel: Nine Gold Gloves, three all-star designations and as high as sixteenth in the MVP voting.  

On first look it does not appear as if Vizquel is breathing the same atmosphere as his hit parade companions. But in a comparison between Vizquel and four sort of randomly picked resident Hall of Famers (including Aparicio) he compares either favorably or better. Vizquel is obviously on his way towards surpassing Aparicio on the Shortstop hit list but he has no one to pass when it comes to runs scored, runs batted in, batting average, and doubles. And he’s only second  in home runs, on base percentage, slugging average, and is third all time in triples. Out of the four Hall members, Aparicio, Rabbit Maranville, Pee Wee Reese and Ozzie Smith of course. But, he did it in 21 years compared to Aparicio’s 18, Reese’s 16, and Smith’s 19. Only Maranville compiled his career statistic in more years played, 23.  

Breaking the career numbers down to a yearly average develops a little clearer picture. And if I had to use these numbers as my criteria to determine the five players’ ranking then Vizquel is now third overall. Reese emerges as if not an overwhelming leader then he is, at least, a significant leader, and to me a surprising leader in the statistical analysis. For the analysis in yearly average HOFer Rabbit Maranville is being left out of the discussion for the following reasons: The era he played in was so significantly different for the era that the other players played that his stats are difficult to compare and frankly, he is the player I have the least experience and knowledge. I have seen, at the minimum on TV, the others play except for Reese. But I know enough of his career from discussions with those who have seen him play and from hearing others of his contemporaries (e.g. Phil Rizzuto) speak of him that I believe my familiarity with his career is on a par with the other players left in the analysis. The second reason Maranville is being left out of the discussion is because while his average ABs per year are less than the other players and that could be meaningful in averages for each category per AB, he is still last in most categories except triples (first), strikeouts (second least per year) and SA (better than only Smith).  

Vizquel, with 65 runs scored, ranks fourth among the four players, although he is in a statistical tie with Smith who has 66 runs scored. Reese is the leader with a decent 83 runs scored and Aparicio follows with 74.   

In hits per year, Vizquel is a surprising last with 128 but again he is in a statistical tie with Smith who has 129 per year. Aparicio leads with 148, and in second place is Reese with 135. 

Three of the players, Vizquel, Aparicio and Reese, are in a statistical dead heat for most doubles with 20, 21 and 20 respectively. Smith is last with 17 doubles per year.  

None of the players was dominant in hitting homeruns or triples with only Reese being able to hit more than five homeruns per year, with eight bombs.  

And as probably most baseball fans discussing shortstops would know, they usually are not in the talk of players who were or are significant RBI producers. But again, Reese leads the category with 55, with the other three players in another statistical tie, the range being between 42 to 44 RBIs produced.  

Only Vizquel managed to so far hit for an average over .270 with a present BA of .273. Reese is second with a BA of .269 and Aparicio and Smith tied with a .262 BA.  

As far as OBP, Reese dominates the four players with a .366 OBP with Aparicio last at .311 and Vizquel and Smith in another statistical tie at .339 and .337 respectively. 

And the last major category considered is Slugging Average. Again, Reese is the leader with a .377 slugging average followed by Vizquel (.355) Aparicio (.343) and Smith (.328)  

By now someone must be asking where are Derek Jeter’s numbers. Jeter’s number are not included because his numbers are far and above that much better than the players being used for this comparison. Jeter is actually in the vanguard of some very special company or should it be said that he is about to enter that rarified atmosphere and that by the time he retires he will be a part of the vanguard. Maybe not with the upper echelon of the Hall luminaries such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays and Ted Williams, but still in very special company especially when the numbers are considered for his position. Jeter is within being the best of the best in all categories for shortstops in the history of MLB.  

I am going to present six season averages and then list six player names. Match the player with the right season average. Two key pieces of the yearly averages I am leaving out are the home run and the SA averages.  

 

The six players are Joe Sewell, Cal Ripken Jr, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Honus Wagner and Robin Yount.  

And the answer is: Joe Sewell (C), Cal Ripken Jr (E), Alex Rodriguez (D), Derek Jeter (A), Honus Wagner (F) and Robin Yount (B). 

The preceding example is striking because it shows that Derek Jeter is on track to surpass all players who are considered to be of Hall of Fame caliber in the shortstop category. Even Alex Rodriguez, except for home runs, RBIs and slugging average. Rodriguez, due to the fact he is a prolific homerun hitter, will surpass Jeter easily in each of the those power categories but in all other categories Jeter will likely be the best offensive force to have ever played in MLB as a shortstop. And, unless he switches from shortstop to another position fulltime, he will have posted his career statistics as a shortstop for easily over 98% of the time he plays the game of baseball on the major league level. Jeter, if he can maintain his present level for another five years -- and with today’s training and health maintenance regimens, he should be able to maintain his present levels -- could be ready to retire with 2060 runs scored (second) , 3508 hits (sixth), 560 doubles (tied for twenty-first), 280 HRs, 1400 RBIs, .316 BA. His average of 179 hits per season would be the best ever in MLB. Better than Pete Rose (177) and Ty Cobb (174).  

He will just be under the rarified air of the crème de la crème of the Hall of Fame. Only his power numbers will prevent him from being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron and Mays. He will however be in the crème de la crème sub group one. He is that damn good when it comes to being an offensive player in MLB. Jeter is almost in a class all by himself when the discussion is about who was the best ever offensive shortstop. He will arguably have surpassed the previous best offensive shortstop in MLB history, Honus Wagner.

Alex Rodriguez? He might have been the number one offensive shortstop if he had not had to move to third base when he became a New York Yankee because Jeter was the incumbent at short for the Yanks. But since his successful transfer to third he is no longer able to be considered as the preeminent shortstop anymore. Only five other players are likely to have more hits than Jeter is and one of them is ineligible to be in the Hall without a ticket to get through the front door. Jeter is good. Really, good… damn good.    

So where does this leave us then with the soon to be number two all-time shortstop in hits? Vizquel has better numbers than some shortstops that have played the game but there are too many players, and especially shortstops, who just don’t belong in the Hall regardless of how good they were defensively. The Hall is a measurement of the overall greatness of a player’s career. And not just one aspect of it. And if any aspect of a player’s career was to be subordinate to another it would be defense to offense.  Offense is that much more important a part of the game when it comes to overall wins. This is not to denigrate or minimize the importance of a good glove to the play of the game, as it is to realize that in any part of life certain things take priority over other things.  No one is advocating the election of Dave Kingman into the Hall of Fame tomorrow rather it is just the reality that the measurement of greatness for Hall entry has always been, first, offense and then, second, defense as a punctuation mark. Defense alone however should not be criteria to allow entrance into Hall of Fame membership.  

Vizquel immediately is probably offensively better than two members of the Hall of Fame: Rabbit Maranville and Phil Rizzuto. And Rizzuto was good enough to have been an MVP winner during those great Yankee teams of the fifties. It has already been demonstrated how Vizquel compares to Maranville so I propose to compare him to Rizzuto and some other players not in the Hall who have statistics similar to some of the shortstop Hall members.   

Bert Campaneris, Dave Concepcion, Bill Dahlen, Barry Larkin and Alan Trammel are the non-hall members I propose to compare with Rizzuto and Vizquel. Vizquel obviously has more hits than any of these players has. But how does he compare in the other categories? For the moment leave Rizzuto out of the discussion of career statistics, because he only played 13 years and would be at a distinct disadvantage in any career totals discussion.  

Vizquel beats all the players in the career runs scored cater gory except Dahlen. Dahlen actually easily out paces the field by over 200 runs scored for a career.  

Vizquel is only second to Barry Larkin in career doubles. But four of the players are separated by less than 40 doubles and all of them have over 400 career doubles. Only Concepcion and Campaneris have less than 400 doubles.  

Dahlen destroys the competition in the career triples category. Larkin is second place with 76 triples and trails Dahlen by 87 triples. Vizquel ranks third and trails Dahlen by 90 triples.  

Only two of the players surpassed 1000 RBIs for a career, Dahlen and Trammel. Trammel barely did it by three RBIs (1003). Dahlen again easily outpaces the field in the category by 230 RBIs.  Only Campaneris, however, doesn’t drive in at least 900 RBIs and he trails the pack with a meager total of 646. So far, out of the players in the discussion only Dahlen seems to have an argument for entry into the exclusive club. 

And if the players, with Rizzuto now added, seasonal averages are examined we can quickly

discount Campaneris and Concepcion. Their yearly statistics are not worth mentioning as Hall worthy numbers and they both were not superior defensive players that they should have a continued consideration for Hall worthiness. While both may have been accomplished, shortstops neither would ever be mistaken for Ozzie Smith.  

That leaves Dahlen, Trammel, Larkin and Rizzuto for a yearly average comparison with Vizquel. Before going any further there is no way any of these players will ever be confused with even the least of the power hitters in the Hall. Only one player had at least an average of 10 HRs a year and that is Larkin who is dead on 10 per year. The fact is that these players will never be confused with any dominance as a hitter, except maybe Rizzuto in his MVP year.  

The bottom line is that there is a reason these players are not in the Hall of Fame. They may have been credible players during their careers but none of them had that remarkable of a career or single season, including Rizzuto that they should be in the Hall.  

And that includes Vizquel. So he may be the second most ranking member of the shortstop club in career hits but that alone is not worth of entry into a club as exclusive, or that should be as exclusive, as Baseball’s Hall of Fame. 

So what about Rizzuto being in the Hall?  My position is that due to a publicity campaign waged by  Rizzuto loyalists and the NY Yankees, spearheaded by George Steinbrenner, Rizzuto was pushed into the hall as a sentimental choice by the veterans committee. Though sentimental choices read as “feel-good stories” they are not the criteria that should ever be used as ticket into Hall of Fame membership.

And Rizzuto is not the only player I think does not belong in the Hall. Just randomly looking at the shortstop members, I see at least four players, in addition to Rizzuto, that should not be in the Hall of Fame. Rabbit Maranville, Dave Bancroft, Lou Boudreau and Joe Tinker. None of these players has numbers that stand out and say, “I am a Hall of Fame player”. And not one of these players were that great defensively that their names are sung from the rafters as a player to be emulated as an example of defensive greatness. At least not in the way Ozzie Smith’s name is sung any way.  

Some of the reasons these players are in the Hall is (1) cronyism and (2) the fact that until the

modern era shortstop was an under filled position in the Hall of Fame due to the fact that the traditional shortstop was at one time accepted not for his bat but because he anchored arguably the hardest position to play defensively on the field. At one time to be considered a good, if not one of the best shortstops in baseball, you just needed a strong and accurate arm, exceptional agility and quickness to make plays to your right, left, and then instantly have the ability to decide where the ball needed to be now! The shortstop used to be a smaller and more agile type of player who directed the infield defense. It wasn’t until the Ripkens, et al, that shortstops became bigger, stronger and more powerful in offensive capability while still supplying defensive prowess. Today the shortstop is marked by players such as Jeter, Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollings and at one time Alex Rodriguez. Shortstop has entered into the new age of baseball as not just a player of defensive prowess but as an all around player who contributes in as many ways as possible to a team’s daily play. Yes ,the potion is still filled by defensive specialists and teams will still sacrifice offense at the position but the shortstops of today tends to be much bigger and stronger and more capable of being an offensive force than the shortstops of yesteryear and  especially pre 1960s.  

The reality is there are players at shortstop who probably don’t belong in the Hall, as well as at other positions for many of the same rationales, but are in the Hall for whatever reasoning.  I am not about to advocate a witch hunt and demand these players now be expelled from the Hall, (though if there were a way to sanely create a special wing for these types of players I could live more easily with that alternative), but I do advocate that in future elections for membership to the Hall of Fame that shortstops are subject to the standards that Jeter and Ripken, and pioneers like Wagner and Sewell in earlier times, set.