Comparing Two Perennial Gold Glovers
Written by Kerri Senno, Monday June 08 2009
Hernandez and Smith both earned all of their Gold Gloves, but the results of their careers are miles apart.
“I’m Keith Hernandez”
No one is a bigger Keith Hernandez fan than Keith Hernandez. Mets fans around the world are getting tired of listening to him praise the opposing team’s players during commentating. They are sick of hearing Keith talk about himself and his career. And if they hear him call fundamentals “fundies” one more time, they just may scream. But the bottom line is Keith Hernandez was a great baseball player who helped bring a Championship to the city of New York.
Comparing Two Eternal Gold Glovers
Keith has said that he is often more recognized for his stint on Seinfeld than for his major league career. This is unbelievable. Keith is the proud owner of 11 Gold Gloves; he played first base with better fundies than anyone else in the game. Similarly, in his time, Ozzie Smith received 13 Gold Gloves. He was voted in to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot with 91% of the votes. I am not implying that Keith was as incredible as Ozzie Smith was at Shortstop, but he was comparable at his position. This is why it is hard to believe that Keith was removed from the Hall of Fame Ballot after receiving fewer than 5% of the votes.
Achievements
Is it fair that players are inducted into the Hall of Fame based on position alone? Let’s compare the careers of Hernandez and Smith.
- Keith won 11 consecutive Gold Gloves, the most ever won by a first baseman
- He won the MVP award in 1979
- He has two World Series rings with the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals respectively
- He was a five time all star and two time Silver Slugger
- He has a .296 career batting average with 2,182 hits, 162 HR and 1,071 RBI. He also had a .384 career OBP.
Ozzie Smith also had a great career:
- Ozzie won 13 consecutive Gold Glove awards
- He has one World Series ring with the St. Louis Cardinals
- He has a career.262 batting average, 580 Stolen Bases, 2,460 hits and a .337 OBP
Keith also batted at a 30 point higher clip than Ozzie in the Postseason. While Smith’s hits and steals are very impressive, he never won an MVP. While Keith and Ozzie were very different players at the plate, they were analogous in the field at their respective positions. I am not suggesting that Hernandez should be in the same category as Smith, but it is unfathomable that Smith would be inducted on the first ballot at 91% of the votes, while Keith was removed from the ballot for receiving less than 5% of the votes.
Riddle Me This
As a Mets fan, this will certainly sound biased, but do you believe Jeff Kent would be Hall of Fame bound if he was not a second baseman? Is it fair that first basemen need to be Homerun hitters to be considered all-stars and Hall of Famers?
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5 comments
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Yeah I loved Ozzie. The back flips, the golden gloves. But Keith Hernandez sounds like he was amazing. I never knew about the guy and man I don't know I think they both were great players but Keith has the edge.
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Congrats on the featured article!!! I think MC Homer makes a good point, first base is a position where some teams will hide a weak defender, where shortstop often has the best athletes. So Hernandez and Smith were both the best at their respective positions, but look closely at the competition...
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It really is next to impossible to compare any infielder (defensively) to a first baseman. It is, by no means, easy to play first base, but it is, by far, the easiest position to play on the entire field, that's why teams stick the one guy who can hit, but can't play defense anywhere else, at 1B (Pujols, Texiera, Giambi to name a few). I will agree Kerri, an elite defensive 1B is too often under-appreciated (I got to witness Will 'The Thrill' Clark and JT Snow first hand, two of the best ever), but no one will ever get into the Hall as a 'defense' first, 1B. Hernandez's offensive numbers really aren't that great, especially for a 1B, in terms of Hall of Famers. I don't think he didn't get in ONLY because his offensive output at 1B was sub-par, but I'm sure it played a role in not being voted in.
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I definitely agree that they are two totally different positions, but I think it says a lot that Keith was the best at his position for 11 straight seasons. He was pretty slick over at first base.
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I think it is hard to compare middle infielders with corner infielders. The defensive demands at shortstop or second base are much greater than those of a first basemen. Not to take away from Hernandez for his accomplishment of winning 11 Gold Gloves, but the Wizard of Oz was a human highlight reel.