Best shortstops of all time

I got into a heated (and onesided) debate today with my girlfriend's mother who is a die-hard Yankee fan. We were talking about Jose Reyes and she made a comment about how he's not as good as Jeter and I said that Jeter really isn't THAT good to which she proclaimed he is currently one of the best baseball players of all time.

I responded that he wasn't even one of the top 10 shortstops of all time. To which she called me all sorts of names.

Nonetheless, I started listing off players like Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel (believe it, his numbers are actually better than Smith's, except the SB) and she wouldn't let me hear the end of it. I'm not crazy, right?

How about Pee Wee Reese, Larry Bowa, Ernie Banks, Robin Yount, Barry Larkin, Dave Concepcion, etc.

I told her I would bring her a list, which she said to me, "You can't judge players on things like numbers."

She thinks that Jeter's WS rings are what makes him the best ever. Any ideas?

 

Don't argue baseball with Yankee fans. That's my idea.

 

This isn't the first time that we've had arguments about this. She told me tonight that I should forget about working in sports because I can't be objective because I'm a Yankee hater and I hate Derek Jeter. I tried to explain that being objective is all about looking at other possible answers and not sticking to your guns on everything.

 

[blue]Buddy Biancalana

 

Glenn Gulliver

ESPN won't like it because they'd have to shoot a still photo, but I'm pretty sure Honus Wagner should be at the top.

 

She's your girlfriend's mother?

Well, at least she's not your mother in law.

 

Were you actually arguing that Larry Bowa was better than Jeter?

 

1. Honus Wagner.






2. Alex Rodriguez
3. Joe Cronin
- 4.5. Ernie Banks*
5. Cal Ripken
- 5.5. Robin Yount*
6. Ozzie Smith
7. Arky Vaughan
8. Omar Vizquel
9. Derek Jeter
10. Barry Larkin

* hard to consider Banks or Yount as shortstops, since they only played half their careers there. But they both won MVPs there, so hard to take them out, too.

 

I didn't argue it, I was just listing off good shortstops. He never came up during the conversation