Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Only the 11th player in major league history to accumulate the following numbers. I'm not a big fan of Damon but that seems impressive.

2,500 hits, 500 doubles, 200 HRs and 100 triples.

Plus he has 392 career steals, lifetime BA. of .287 and almost 1600 runs scored.

2 and a half more seasons and he should have at least 3000 hits. He'll be 39/40 years old but i don't think its an unreasonable expectation.

Very interesting. I heard the other day that Damon's HR/2B/3B numbers were only matched by five others all-time (Ruth, Mays, Musial,Simmons and Foxx); I was in the car and I haven't checked to see if it is an accurate statement (radio sports jockeys are not paragons of research) but impressive numbers nonetheless.

If he adds the 3,000 hits to his CV, I don't see how he can be kept out.

IMO no.

Unless he hangs around and accumulates the legacy numbers.

Was he ever considered the best at what he does?

To be fair to him these type of discussions should probably only be had when his career is over, by then maybe it is more clear that he should make it.

There is no way Damon is a hall of famer....and I like damon. I am a Yankee fan and he did great for Yanks. But HOF....no way. I am an older fella and it kills me when I see guys like Bill Mazeroski and Ozzie Smith in the HOF. All you need to know about the HOF is take a look at the picture of the first inductees....those are HOF. Over the past 25 years or so the HOF has become terribly watered down. It's for complete ballplayers dominant in their era. Ozzie for example sure could field but hardly a great hitter.

apparently you've never heard of rabbit maranville.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maranra01.shtml

notice who is #1 most similar player is. he was inducted in what year again...

-steven

How many HOF elligible players that have 3,000 hits are NOT in the HOF? If/When he gets there he is in.

IMO 3,000 hits or 300 Wins is automatic.

500 HR used to be an automatic too but not now. Bonds/McGwire/Palmiero/Sosa (and some others) are not a shoe in.

[quote:b27b2811e4="mryank7"] I am an older fella and it kills me when I see guys like Bill Mazeroski and Ozzie Smith in the HOF. All you need to know about the HOF is take a look at the picture of the first inductees....those are HOF. Over the past 25 years or so the HOF has become terribly watered down. It's for complete ballplayers dominant in their era. Ozzie for example sure could field but hardly a great hitter.[/quote:b27b2811e4]

Cards don't win World Series in 1982 without the addition of Smith to that roster. I would think a Yankee fan would appreciate the value of a Ozzie type player with "Scooter" Rizzuto in the HOF and he had 872 less career hits than Ozzie. :wink:

I would hope Johnny Damon is never taken seriously as a potential Hall of Fame candidate. A 2 time all star and no top ten finishes in the MVP voting in the hall of fame?

And there is no comparison to Ozzie Smith Ozzie was a 15 time all star second once in MVP voting and 13 consecutive years as Gold Glove at SS.

OMG I forgot Damon was ONLY a 2 time all star, hell no absolutely not. I know AS voting is suspicious in regards to popularity contests, but he only got on 2...

Hell you could make a fairly decent argument Kenny Lofton should get in as much as Damon should...and FTR Kenny Lofton should not even enter a HOF discussion.

[quote:a00ac2bac8="FUDU"]

Was he ever considered the best at what he does?

[/quote:a00ac2bac8]

To answer this, yes. When the Red Sox were making their run from 2003-2005 I don't think there was much doubt that Damon just about the best AL style leadoff man in baseball. I say AL style because the man drove in 94 runs in 2004 and has a CAREER OPS of .790. That's a pretty huge OPS for a leadoff man who has 2,650 hits and counting.

While I'll agree Damon's not the most conventional HOF candidate, I believe that if he puts up good (and I mean real good for a 37 year old) numbers to close out his career he deserves to be heavily considered for the HOF.

Some of the counting numbers other people have presented are simply astounding and he's also had 10 seasons of 100+ runs.