Johnny Damon Hall Of Famer?

[JohnnyBlazers]

He doesn't have Hall-of-Fame credentials (no top ten MVP''s, never led league in anything, only 2 All-Star games) but his similarity scores at his age are comparable to Brock & Molitor, both of whom are in the Hall. He needs another 2-3 seasons to get to 3000. If he gets 3000 hits, he should be in. There is something to be said for longevity and he probably will get in, especially when you consider all the juicing that went on with his contemporaries who wont get in on juicing suspicion. He wasn't the best but he was a very good leadoff guy for a long time and that counts for something. Damon compares very well with Molitor.

[kupfernick]

Starting with the 10 HOFers plus Damon and requiring 3000 hits, only five players remain:

Stan Musial
Paul Molitor
Willie Mays
George Brett
Robin Yount

now require 550 doubles and Willie Mays drops out.

go further and require 150 triples and only one player remains;
A player that also hit more than 400 HR.

Is Stan the Man the greatest baseball player of all time?

Stan Musial: 3630 hits (4th all-time), 725 doubles (3rd all-time), 177 triples (19th), 475 HRs (28th), .331 lifetime BA (30th)

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:f6bb1024bb="kupfernick"]Starting with the 10 HOFers plus Damon and requiring 3000 hits, only five players remain:

Stan Musial
Paul Molitor
Willie Mays
George Brett
Robin Yount

now require 550 doubles and Willie Mays drops out.

go further and require 150 triples and only one player remains;
A player that also hit more than 400 HR.

Is Stan the Man the greatest baseball player of all time?

Stan Musial: 3630 hits (4th all-time), 725 doubles (3rd all-time), 177 triples (19th), 475 HRs (28th), .331 lifetime BA (30th)[/quote:f6bb1024bb]
Why 550 doubles or 150 triples?

But, as to Stan the Man, you're missing some stuff.
3 time NL MVP
3 time WS champion (yes, dismissible when you look at the people who don't have it, but I think it burnishes a reputation to be the best player on a championship team)
24x All Star
3rd all time in Runs Created
14th in OPS (15th in OPS+)
13th in BB

Interesting factoid about The Man.
He hit 1815 of his hits at home, leaving 1815 to be hit on the road. The man was immune to ballpark effects, he just hit the ball.

In terms of the intangibles:
Nickname: The Man
HOF: First Ballot, with 93+% of the vote, back when that was exceedingly rare. (five in a decade, rather than 1-2 a year as it is now)
Costas on The Man: "All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being."

And lastly, I'll let Ford Frick take us home:
[img:f6bb1024bb]http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/nixaxpress.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/3/21/6e4/3216e432-6cd9-11e0-9182-001cc4c03286-revisions/4db16facbd437.preview-300.jpg[/img:f6bb1024bb]

Damon <<<<<<< Musial. Massively less. In fact, outside of about 10 or 15 hitters, everyone is less than Musial. And very few of them match him in terms of longevity, consistency or quality of character as a representative of the game.

[dinsdale]

Johnny Damon - good player but nowhere near HOF. If he had played his entire career with a team like Seattle he would have no talk about HOF. But he is a "name" player because he played on television a lot. Good player, I want him on my team, but not quite HOF.

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

My gut has decided Johnny Damon does belong in the Hall of Fame, this very moment! You cannot argue with my gut.

[Palanion]

I wasa big Damon fan during his time in Boston, and I still like the guy. However, he's not a hall of famer.

He'll probably be about 280 hits shy of 3000 by season's end. He's averaged about 155 hits each of the last five years (including a prorated 2011). He'll need to play at the same pace he's on for the next two seasons to do so. He will be 38 and 39 years old for those seasons, needs to be DH to play regularly more than likely, and he needs to improve his OBP (currently his 2nd worst season this year for OB) to remain a player of interest to other clubs (including Tampa). He may very well reach 3000 hits, but... I also think 3000 hits will not make him a lock.

Two all-star appearances (in an era with more all-star roster slots, mind you)
Zero top-10 MVP finishes
Zero gold gloves
Only three times led the league in any major category (runs, triples, steals, once each)
These are not the accolades of a hall-of-fame player.

[Valen]

In his prime I remember Damon as a really tough out.
But some things to consider.

Fenway park is a doubles park for a hitter who can take aim at the monster.

And also a friendly HR park for a LH hitter who can pull ball down the line. Ditto for yankee stadium while he was there.

True, he did not start out on a great offensive club but during his prime years he played for Boston and NY. A lot of players could pile up 1600 runs at the top of those lineups.

In the end though his defense just left too much to be desired being famous for his week arm. I don't think you can just ignore defense when considering a player for HOF.