But, see that was the whole point of this little "exercise". Just because Cal Ripken's in the top 5 as far as HOF voting percentage doesn't necessarily mean that he's a top 5 player of all time. Where someone ends up in the HOF voting is usually more indicative of how well they were liked by the friggin' writers. I'm not saying Ozzie was a bad player, or not deserving of being in the HOF. But, to say that he's one of the top 24...no way. Yes, his defense was great. But, I'd dare say that the offense brought to the table by the likes of Honus Wagner, Ernie Banks, Ripken, Robin Yount, and even Lou Boudreau might make them more deserving to be listed above Ozzie.

I'm getting some flak for touting Ozzie, as I knew I would. To Ozzie's credit, he was a 15-time All-Star (in 16 years) and winner of 13 Gold Gloves. He ended his career with 2,460 hits. His team also won a World Series in '82, which never hurts in HOF voting. I think the HOF voters value defense more so than the average fan. That probably explains his 24th best percentage. In my lifetime, I've only seen three players who were absolute marvels in the field: Ozzie, Mays and Clemente.

Edited July 26, 201313 yr by Twotoplace

Ozzie was great, but he was also IMO very over rated. The media loved him and he was flamboyant with his back flips and all but in reality wasn't any better than some other great SS's not in the Hall.

 

Concepcion's stats (.267 BA) (101 HR) (950 RBI) (2,326 H) (.971 Field%)

Smiths stats (.262 BA) ( 28 HR) (793 RBI) (2,460 H) (.965 Field%)

 

Question isn't does Ozzie deserve to be a 100%er (he does not) but why isn't Davey in the HoF!!!

You're right. By comparison, Concepcion has the stats to be in the HOF. (Was Luis Aparicio better than Davey?) So I agree with you there, as does Marty Brennaman. However, the most Davey ever got in HOF voting was 17 percent, which I think is too low. He was better than 17 percent.While Ozzie had a wow factor, Davey was more workmanlike.

..........edit