Posted by MikeT23 on 2/7/2014 11:21:00 AM (view original):
Well, you seem to be compartmentalizing my argument.
1. I think he played long enough and I think he had a nice run of "peak years." HOF eligible.
2. He was a pretty good hitter but, unfortunately, he didn't play the field. That's a mark in the bad column.
3. He was a 3-4-5 hitter but, IMO, he walked a great deal. Was he pitched around? Unlikely with A-Rod and Griffey in the line-up. Bad, IMO.
4. It's not like when he swung, he made connection. He struck out once every 6 AB. Bad.
5. We're speculating but we seem to agree he became a DH to lessen the risk of injury. Bad.
All in all, he was a pretty good hitter. Maybe even really good. But he wasn't dominant at the plate during his peak and he didn't play the field. That's just no HOF material to me.
3) Not making outs is a good thing. Not bad.
4) Who cares? An out is an out.
5) Agreed.
He was very dominant. Probably the best hitter in the AL in 1995 and among the top 5 in 1992, 1996, and 1997, which is pretty good considering his career overlapped Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, and Manny Ramirez, four of the greatest hitters of all time.