Yankee Fans: Morons

Mel Ott (highest ever in the vote was 3rd).

Eddie Matthews (finished second twice)

 

Good call, totally overlooked both of them. Slot Mathews at #2 and Ott #3 behind Jeter on that list.

 

MankyJimy may be over the top in his love of Jeter, but the people arguing with him are just as bad the other way. To call a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer "vastly overrated," as OOP did, is simply comical. And Rhody dismissively talks about how Jeter will be remembered. Uh, he'll be remembered as one of the handful of greatest shortstops in the history of the game. Don't think so? Try starting a list and see how long it takes you to get to Jeter, even if you think he's "vastly overrated." I understand that there's some deification of Jeter because he plays for the Yankees (and I hate the Yankees), but the hate on this site for him is hard to understand.

 

Anybody who puts Jeter up with Babe Ruth is vastly overrating him. Those people, and Manky, are the only ones being ridiculous. If you don't see that, you are beyond help.

 

What team did Reggie go into Cooperstown as? Even as a Bay Area guy, I always think of him as a Yankee, but that has more to do with my age than anything. My first baseball memories were those Yankees-Royals ALCS matchups and the Yankee-Dodgers World Series. I'm too young to remember his first stint in Oakland.

 

Reggie went in as a Yankee. I agree most people seem to remember him as a Yankee although his best years were in Oakland.

 

Yeah, I can't fault him for that. His best years might have been in Oakland, but his most memorable moments were with the Yankees.

 

Greatest Shortstop of All Time:

1) Honus Wagner (he will probably be #1 for eternity, the only one that could have knocked him off is ARod had stayed at SS and avoided the PED taint)
2) Cal Ripken Jr.
3) Derek Jeter
4) Alex Rodriguez (he will have played more games at 3B by the time his career ends, but his value at SS from 1996-2003 is enough to put him on this list)
5) Ernie Banks (like ARod, ended up playing more games elsewhere but his best years were at shortstop)
6) Ozzie Smith
7) Arky Vaughan
8) Luke Appling
9) Pee Wee Reese
10) Alan Trammell

 

Without devoting a lot of time to the issue, this list feels pretty correct to me. The offensive threshold is pretty low at SS. Was Lou Bourdeau a SS primarily?

 

Yes, he played over 90% of his games at SS. Probably slightly better offensive player than Trammell, but Trammell also played exactly 600 more games at SS. I think you also have to consider that some of Boudreau's best years came during WWII playing against weaker competition (Boudreau was classified 4-F due to an arthritic condition in his ankles).

Extending the list further:

11) Joe Cronin
12) Barry Larkin
13) Lou Boudreau
14) Luis Aparicio
15) Phil Rizzuto

 

Larkin belongs above Trammell. Better hitter, better glove, a lot more steals and an MVP.

 

OK, I can agree with you there. I didn't spend a lot of time researching this list, in my mind I knew Larkin was a better player when he was on the field but I thought Trammell played quite a few more games. Turns out it was only 100 more or so.