What NY Yankee should be in the HOF?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

Yes. He missed years due to the war and according to Baseball Reference he is the 16th best second baseman to ever play the game. He got elected over 30 years after his death. It's not like it was a Frankie Frisch situation.

He only missed two years. He hit .268 with 1500 plus hits. His closest comparables are Bret Boone, Jose Valentin and Bill Nicholson.

The writers who saw him play obviously thought he was HOF material.
Hall of Fame
1945 BBWAA ( 0.4%)
1955 BBWAA ( 0.4%)
1956 BBWAA ( 2.1%)
1958 BBWAA ( 4.1%)
1960 BBWAA ( 4.1%)
1962 BBWAA ( 2.5%)
1964 BBWAA (14.9%)
1964 Run Off ( 0.5%)
1966 BBWAA (10.3%)
1967 BBWAA (22.6%)
1967 Run Off ( 4.2%)
1968 BBWAA (27.2%)
1969 BBWAA (28.5%)
1970 BBWAA (26.3%)

[packs]

The two years he missed are on average the best statistical years a player has, ages 29 and 30.

Of the 19 HOF second basemen Gordon has a better WAR than 9 of them, 10 if you count Bucky Harris and 11 if you consider Jeff Kent a future HOFer.

That puts him in the top 10 all time amongst HOF second baseman. That's not a puny career.