Off-Topic Forum

He's going to be a fascinating case. A lot of voters are leaning more and more on the JAWS score, and by that measure he's one of the 10 best 2nd baseman of all time. However, he doesn't really have that "feel" of a Hall of Famer, does he? Before looking up the JAWS rankings, I would have said a solid "No". He's going to be the subject of some great discussion regardless.

I think his ranking says a lot about the position he played.  It should be noted that several of the HOF 2Bs behind him either spent good years in Negro Leagues (those stats aren't included in JAWS), spent several years at other positions, or are only in the HOF because they were successful managers who happened to be 2Bs when they played the game.  That being said, i had forgotten how good a hitter he actually used to be, before this topic came up and I read his stats.

No on Utley.  He is a good player for his time, but not an all time great that belongs in the pantheon of the sport.  And that opinion is even without the slide.  I think the slide is irrelevant.

Now, I appreciate the Mattingly post!  My favorite player of all time, so I am biased, but he is the case where career stats shouldn't  be the only measure.  He was a legend of the mid to late 80's all the way through the early 90's.  If Terrell Davis can make the football hall then Mattingly should be in the baseball hall.  Mattingly wasn't a flash in the pan and anyone who lived through his playing years knows the legendary status he attained.  MATTINGLY FOR THE HALL OF FAME!!!!!   Put my name on that vote every time!

And Mattingly had 5 100 RBI seasons with some pretty poor Yankees teams.

If we start debating every possible Hall of Famer, we'll have opened this thread up to the point that it could eventually threaten "Baseball Trivia Game" as one of the longest running threads ever.

That said, I'll bite. Mattingly: yes. My #1 criterion is whether the player was one of the dominant players at his position for a goodly amount of time (5-7 years, I'd say). Mattingly qualifies under that criterion. Nine Gold Gloves. Plus great career stats. Didn't sustain long enough to get to the sexy numbers, but did enough to get in.

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I would say no. A quality player no doubt, but there definitely are less qualified guys in the HOF than him.