2007 Baseball HOF: Ripken and Gwynn

Today was the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The headliners were Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, two class acts who are well-deserving of their HOF status (even their speeches today were classy). They both played their entire careers with one team (Padres and Orioles, respectively), something that is increasingly rare. And they were both fan favorites for that reason, amongst others.

Local sports columnist Bob Mathews wrote a column discussing Cal Ripken recently, in anticipation of the induction ceremony today. Cal has a connection with Rochester, as he played for our Red Wings, who at that time were the AAA affiliate for the Orioles. People around here are big fans of Ripken, and generally know about him than the average fan around the country (minus those in Baltimore of course).

So it was natural for the local sports editor to write a column considering where Ripken ranks amongst HOF Shortstops. He rates Ripken second, behind only Honus Wagner. Choosing Wagner first is a no-brainer, as he clearly remains the all-time best SS. If Alex Rodriguez hadn't switched positions to 3B, one could at least begin asking the question if he might surpass Honus someday, but the point seems moot at the moment.

Is Cal the second best SS all-time? That is far more debatable. To compare with Bob's selections, lets consider Bill James' list from 2001 in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Mr. James is, after all, arguably the most well-respected author in the area of baseball player analysis. He of course rates Honus tops amongst SS, but then he surprisingly has Arky Vaughn rated second (and he notes this was even a surprise to him). Mathews ranks Arky fourth, which is a solid ranking to be sure, behind Ripken and Ernie Banks. Whenever I think about this issue I always note that both Wagner and Vaughn played for the Pirates for most of their careers... meaning that the Pirates have arguably the top two, or at least the top and another in the top five, SS of all time. That is pretty amazing.

James does rate Ripken third though, so Mathews rating of him as second best is not out of line really. James then lists Yount as 4th and Banks as 5th, which means that since Mathews has Yount as 5th, they have the same top five all-time SS -- just in a different order after Honus at the top.

While James makes as good a case for Vaughn as he can, I guess my own list would have them switched. I'd go with Wagner, Ripken, Vaughn, Banks, Yount. The thing about Banks and Yount is that they played a lot fo their careers at other positions, 1B for Banks and OF for Yount. But if you don't subtract points for that too much, they deserve to be 4th and 5th here.

I don't think any non-HOF shortstops would be good enough to crack this top five. Some who are eligible and not yet in the HOF are clearly better than some who are (Alan Trammell is better than Travis Jackson for instance). Barry Larkin is arguably a HOFer, but not a top-five SS of all-time. If A-Rod returns to SS, then he could shake up this list when he gets into the HOF. And Derek Jeter? Could he end up with a better career than Vaughn, Banks, or Yount? Quite possibly I think.