Scott Rolen: Hall of Famer?

Actually, looking it up, using the same logic as the Pirates, you CAN claim the Yankees have a HOFer at every position:

C: Yogi/Dickey
1B: Gehrig
2B: Lazzeri
SS: Rizzuto
3B: Joe Sewell (Yes, he played primarily with Cleveland, but he spent 3 seasons with NY and won a WS in 1932 with them while hitting the most HRs of his career that season, 11)
RF: The Babe, of course. Sorry Reggie
CF: DiMaggio/Mantle
LF: Winfield (Spent 9 years in NY, 8 in SD)

 

They probably put Lazzeri in to round this very item out . . . and it remains a joke. With that lineup supporting him, he hit appreciably better than he would have with a normal team, and his offensive numbers weren't all that great, to put it mildly. Among the most ridiculous HOF sequences ever was when Lazzeri got in ahead of Fox . . . and after the screaming, they finally put Fox in, out of embarassment. Ah, the Eastern bloc.

 

Like Baron noted, it depends on what you consider a full-time player. I know the Red Sox can do it.

C-Fisk and Ferrell
1b: Yaz (he played almost half his carrer there) or Foxx
2b: Doerr
ss: Cronin
3b: Boggs
OF: Williams, Rice, Hooper, Speaker...

I think the Giants have it and maybe the A's...though, I can't think of an A's shortstop in the hall.

 

I agree with Lazzeri, but the Yanks have Gordon now as well.

 

you are terribly, terribly wrong here. from '84-'89 -- the start of his career that put him on a sure path to the hof -- mattingly did it with power, double, singles, everything but triples 'cause he couldn't run a bit. and in '85 and '86, mattingly was widely considered the best PLAYER in baseball. by '89, he either was tied for or held the ALL-TIME record for consecutive games with a homer AND grand slams in a season.

the back woes relegated him to 'singles hitter' status for the rest of his career, but mattingly's best six seasons compare very favorably to most hof'ers. this is abhor these discussions: i believe rolen is a terrific player. but when the 'hall of very good' folks are in the discussion with the 'hof'ers,' you end up sounding as if you're denigrating terrific players like rolen, which isn't my intent.

but ya know how sparky anderson pissed off thurman munson after the '76 world series by saying, 'don't embarrass anyone by comparing them to johnny bench?' well, the gulf between rolen's hof credentials and mattingly's is as large.

mattingly isn't in the hof but for the first six seasons of his career compare favorably to just about every hof'er in the pre-steroid era. with all due respect to rolen, there was NEVER a time in which i thought, 'wow, this guy is an hof'er.'

and this notion that n.y. players have an advantage in hof voting is a crock. mattingly's not in the hall and even a supporter such as myself understands why. but i'll tell you this: one of mattingly's peers who IS in the hof is kirby puckett. and kirby puckett wasn't in mattingly's class as a hitter in their primes. even with mattingly's 'prime' cut short, he had twice as many 100-rbi seasons. puckett's career ba was a splendid .318 to mattingly's .307; but from '84-'89, don's ba was over .330. from '90-'95, when he still should've been padding his stats (mattingly was just 29 in '90) he instead bottomed out, hitting (barely) over .300 twice; averaged LESS THAN 10 homers per season, and never again came close to 100 ribbies (he had 86 twice). it was like the 'tale of two careers.'

as for mattingly's 'singles' vs. rolen's 'power": in his first six seasons, the 'singles hitter' had 160 homers; in rolen's best six seasons, he totaled 176. so much for that weak argument.

bottom line from here is that neither mattingly nor rolen gets into the hof without a ticket. more proof that it is extraordinarily difficult to earn a plaque. and while we can all site examples when we'd argue the standards have been lowered, i very much appreciate that, for the most part, the standards remain a bitch.

 

HOFer? Lemme think for a min HELL FUCKING NO.

 

Actually, it's the Giants and the Sox. The book I had with that question came out a year or two before Boggs was inducted.

 

Bert Campaneris? He's the closest and could easily end up a Vets pick someday.

Tejada could end up there too eventually. Could.

 

That's an interesting comparison. I don't remember Puckett ever being as dominant as Mattingly was, but I'm guessing he had more good/great seasons.

 

No, Rolen is better.

 

Campaneris can count for every position if he gets in.