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Posted By: howard

While I agree that Rizzuto is one of the weakest of the Hall of Famers it has nothing to do with his defense. Rizzuto was considered an outstanding fielder by his contemporaries and rates as a top SS according to most sabermetric measures. The error totals mentioned were not unusual for the time and Rizzuto's fielding average was well above the league average. Marty Marion is generally considered the greatest fielding SS of the time and his FA was only one point higher than Rizzuto's. Crosstown rival Pee Wee Reese's was only .962. Also, Rizzuto turned many more DPs than those guys.

As for the hit total, I suspect that the veterans committee did not hold the three years Rizzuto missed due to WW2 against him. He likely would have surpassed 2,000 hits otherwise.

I think the main reason he is in, however, was the man-crush that Ted Williams had on Phil. Williams, it seemed, never missed in opportunity to say that Phil was the MVP of those great Yankee teams and should be in the Hall.