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Todd SchultzI'm not here to carry the torch for Donnie Baseball or Joey Belle, but would consider their numbers to be HOF worthy or very very close. Still, Donnie finished with 150 or so fewer hits than Puck, which is not really identical--it's nearly a full season's worth, and he played an extra year. His biggest knock, besides those who insist that you must reach certain raw totals (even if it means you play 5 or more substandard, mediocre or even poor seasons to get there),is his lack of post-season star power--he only played in one October series. Puckett starred in two post seasons, and led his team to two rings. Mattingly, who I always loved to watch, played in only one divisional series. I suspect that difference came into play with the voters.
Hey, I've already put up Kirby's numbers vs. his contemporaries, including Mattingly. Forgot Robin Yount, the boy wonder who started about ten years earlier, but who still played several of the same seasons as Puck. Over the first dozen years of his career---generally considered to cover a player's prime, Yount had almost 450 fewer hits, 110 fewer runs, 185 fewer RBI and 61 fewer Home Runs than Puckett. So that makes Puckett's numbers stronger than Boggs, Brett, Gwynn, Mattingly, Sandberg, and Yount. It wouldn't take huge effort to find HOFers from other eras whose numbers don't match Puckett either--Kaline and Yaz had fewer hits and fewer RBIs---Puckett actually AVERAGED more hits per season (192) than Yaz ever reached (his high was 191).
All in all I do not see how once can fairly say that Puckett's HOF appearance is meritless or that he's unworthy of it.