He'll be a first ballot and deservedly so.

You should change your screename to "The World's Oldest Living Waterhead" for this statement alone.

You mean a creation of the media?

He was a half step above a trained circus chimp.

12 gold gloves and 2400+ hits (Not to mention his NLCS home run) makes it a little more bearable but boy was he a weak hitter (his slugging percentage is lower than his OBP - that's almost hard to do).

This thread is ridiculously on fire with speculation.

Congrats to T Gwynn. For a LOT of years he was the only bright spot here on the Padres. He's also probably one of the nicest and most humble professional athletes around.

Tony hit .394 in '94, but of course that was the year of the strike. I've seen him say, though, that he knew he would have hit over .400 had the season not ended, and given his humility I completely believe him.

Well, if you heard him say it, it must be true.

Based on years of accumulated statistics.

Arod has potential to be the Raffy Palmeiro of his generation, tho.

In what sense? A-Rod is way, way better than Palmeiro ever was.

Better offensively and defensively at tougher positions.

MVP

comparison makes no sense.

A guy who consistently puts up good numbers and never really helps his team win.

He really helped the Mariners win for a few years. 2000 playoffs he was pretty good as well.

ON a team with Junior Griffey, Randy Johnson, E Martinez...etc.

He's better than Raffy, but they remind me of each other.

there was no johnson or griffey in 2000....advanced to the ALCS and lost in 6 to the Yankees

Baseball Reference

Similar Batters through Age 30

Compare Stats
Ken Griffey (822)
Mel Ott (790) *
Hank Aaron (763) *
Frank Robinson (761) *
Mickey Mantle (758) *
Jimmie Foxx (729) *
Eddie Mathews (725) *
Rogers Hornsby (665) *
Vladimir Guerrero (664)
Cal Ripken (661)

What do the numbers mean?

where is a rod on that list?

Didn't someone mention that all batting records a little skewed these days?

According to baseball-reference.com, A-Rod hit .308 in the 1997 playoffs, .371 in the 2000 playoffs, and .320 in the 2004 playoffs. But he didn't perform well in 2005 and 2006. Overall postseason batting average: .280. Not that I think those 35 games should carry too much weight.

Or do you think each player needs some dramatic game-winning hit to be a HOFer?

i'm trying to figure out what a-rod's number would be but here's how it's calculated.

Batters
One point for each difference of 20 games played.
One point for each difference of 75 at bats.
One point for each difference of 10 runs scored.
One point for each difference of 15 hits.
One point for each difference of 5 doubles.
One point for each difference of 4 triples.
One point for each difference of 2 home runs.
One point for each difference of 10 RBI.
One point for each difference of 25 walks.
One point for each difference of 150 strikeouts.
One point for each difference of 20 stolen bases.
One point for each difference of .001 in batting average.
One point for each difference of .002 in slugging percentage.
To this there is a positional adjustment. Each position has a value, and you subtract the difference between the two players position. James just uses primary position, but I computed an average position for players who had more than one primary position. (See Ernie Banks)

240 - Catcher
168 - Shortstop
132 - Second Base
84 - Third Base
48 - Outfield (James distinguishes, but I don't have that data incorporated at the moment)
12 - First Base
0 - DH

I can't seem to find his number for that age but my guess is he's on top. Here's the comparison through age 30.

Sim Player From To Yrs G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS OPS+
+---++-------------------+---------+--+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+----+
Alex Rodriguez 1994-2006 13 1746 6767 1358 2067 364 26 464 1347 820 1404 .305 .386 .573 241 60 145
822 Ken Griffey 1989-2000 12 1680 6352 1163 1883 342 33 438 1270 841 1101 .296 .380 .568 173 64 147
790* Mel Ott 1926-1939 14 1864 6544 1332 2061 359 63 369 1386 1135 566 .315 .419 .558 62 0 159
763* Hank Aaron 1954-1964 11 1656 6510 1180 2085 351 79 366 1216 603 655 .320 .376 .567 125 41 157
761* Frank Robinson 1956-1966 11 1657 6103 1165 1855 352 52 373 1131 785 879 .304 .391 .562 169 62 154
758* Mickey Mantle 1951-1962 12 1675 5896 1341 1821 256 67 404 1152 1251 1214 .309 .429 .581 133 29 177
729* Jimmie Foxx 1925-1938 14 1710 6116 1355 2049 346 102 429 1520 1104 935 .335 .437 .635 76 57 169
725* Eddie Mathews 1952-1962 11 1634 6002 1138 1690 248 61 399 1082 1031 976 .282 .386 .543 59 28 152
665* Rogers Hornsby 1915-1926 12 1534 5798 1080 2083 361 143 191 1051 648 474 .359 .427 .570 117 64 178
664 Vladimir Guerrero 1996-2006 11 1457 5502 952 1786 328 39 338 1052 544 674 .325 .390 .583 166 80 147
661* Cal Ripken 1981-1991 11 1638 6305 970 1762 340 33 259 942 688 747 .279 .349 .467 28 24


sorry for the jumbled mess

MODERATORS: Is there any way we can ban Kiev from baseball threads?

Tony Gwynn told me that A-Rod is totally not clutch.

According to ESPN.com, A-Rod hit .302 with runners in scoring position last season, with 10 HR in 189 AB.

19 of his 35 HR were with runners on.

I didn't look up other years because I think this argument is silly, but there you have it.