First allow me to apologize again to the readers of this thread. My angst was because I do not like to start a conversation with a negative and have to prove it wrong, but the thread has turned away from that, thankfully.
As a baseball nut, I always have trouble comparing players of different eras. For example, Honus Wagner would be my choice for best all time shortstop but with the caveat that I do not know how he would fare with all the travel of today;s game nor the relief pitching that exists which does not allow for facing a pitcher who has a pitch count well into the 100's as with his day.
On the other hand, he played with a dead ball, a glove that was not geared as todays. So comparing of different eras is so difficult.
Jeter has a place in the discussion for sure. 20 years in NYC can sure be a help, but oh my can it ever be a hinderance, and he has handled those 20 years with such grace and class. With a LIFETIME BA of about .310 I am impressed. I think in this season there are less than 15 hitters over .300 FOR THE YEAR. It is not easy; I think hitting a baseball is just about the most difficult thing to do in professional baseball. We can add the ultimate to his resume....the world championships, but they are not won in a vaccuum and I understand that, but I am so impressed that only 5 other players IN HISTORY have as many hits as he does...that is so impressive.
Thus, as I said these discussions are fun and interesting to see what is taken into consideration by people when ranking players.
Again, I apologize but the OP was sort of a "left handed" compliment and one that, in my opinion, was totally unnecessary to any conversation.
PS....another not discussed stat that amazes me is that as of today only 12 men have been on base more than him....TWELVE...behind him in this stat are Mel Ott, Honus Wagner to name two and they played more years than Jeter. No matter what, an impressive, clean, classy career and he should be cheered. If he gets on base in the next 4 games, make that number 11 men instead of 12..he trails Ted Williams by 1. Williams, of course brings to mind when comparing different eras, the war time players who missed a lot of games to help fight the war.
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