[the 'stache]

At one point, it looked like Johnny Damon was going to get 3,000 hits. He stumbled at the very end, playing only 64 games in 2012 while hitting .222. So, he ended with 2,769 hits. But if a few things had gone differently, if just a few of those outs had become hits, another team looking for a veteran presence on a young team might have given Damon a 1 or 2 year contract. Damon still had some power and speed. He didn't run as often, but he was successful on 46 of his last 53 stolen base attempts. He had 16 home runs in 2011. So, it wouldn't have been shocking if he'd gotten to 3,000 hits.

Would Johnny Damon have been a Hall of Famer with 3,000 hits? I say no. Not even close. Why?

Led the league in runs scored once, in triples once, in stolen bases once.
Never won an MVP, a Gold Glove, or a Silver Slugger. Never finished in the MVP top 10.
His numbers just don't impress. .284 career batting average, 235 home runs, 1,139 RBI are pretty average considering the era he played in. 1,668 runs scored and 408 stolen bases in 511 attempts, that's more impressive.
Career slash line: .352/.433/.785 is ok, nothing special.

Now, in his defense, I think his best years were in Kansas City, so he didn't get the exposure, or recognition, that his play might have warranted. However, that never held players like George Brett, or Bret Saberhagen, or Dan Quisenberry from making names for themselves. In 2000, Damon was 19th in the MVP vote when he hit .327 with a league leading 136 runs scored, 214 hits, 42 doubles, 10 triples, 16 home runs, 88 RBI, 46 stolen bases (lead the AL) and an .877 OPS. That's not an MVP season, really, but 19th in the voting? That's a top-ten-in-the-MVP-vote season to me.

Also:
9 consecutive seasons over 100 runs scored.
522 career doubles, 109 triples, 235 home runs.

But, again, he could have ended up with 3,000 hits.

I think before this era, which was definitely geared towards offense, 3,000 hits and 500 home runs were just more impressive. Fewer teams meant that the overall talent level in the game was greater. Now you have players in the Major Leagues that wouldn't have made it to the Majors in the 60s or 70s.
You also have to remember that back in the day, seasons were only 154 games long. Now they're 162. That's not a big deal on a small scale, but if you play 15 to 20 years, that extra 8 games a season adds up. Play 20 years, and you've basically added a whole extra years worth of numbers to your career total. Play 15 years, and you've added an extra 120 games. That's an extra 130-150 hits for a good player, making that 3,000 hit threshold more attainable by those good, not great players who manage to stay in the game, and healthy, for a long period of time.

When you start to add all these things together-longer seasons, slightly watered down talent across the league, improvements to conditioning and strength training, a change to the mound height, etc...all these things make it a little easier for a player to get close to 3,000 hits. Then you start getting players who really shouldn't be considered for Cooperstown putting up numbers that twenty years ago would have warranted serious consideration.