[the 'stache]

And another awful ESPN Baseball talking head is heard from. Jeter even being considered the second best shortstop in baseball history is a complete joke.

How is Robin Yount not on his list? He was a shortstop for ten years, the last half of which he was the best in the game.

Jeter has played shortstop for twenty seasons. His highest WAR ratings:

1999: 8.0
1998: 7.5
2009: 6.5
2006: 5.5
2001: 5.2

Yount's highest WAR ratings while a shortstop:

1982: 10.5
1983: 7.3
1980: 7.1
1984: 5.9
1978: 5.0
1981: 4.9 * (projects to between a 7.2 and a 7.5 without the strike)

1981 was the strike-shortened season. There were only 109 games played, of which Yount played in 96. 53 games were lost that season, which is almost exactly 1/3 of a whole season. Yount's 4.9 WAR was achieved in 96 games. Give him another 45 games or more, and he's anywhere between a 7.2 and a 7.5.

In his twenty seasons at shortstop, Jeter managed two seasons with a 7 + WAR. Yount managed three playing half as many seasons at short, and clearly would have had a fourth in 1981 if not for the strike that season. And, that's with him playing his first season, 1974, as an 18 year old. Jeter was 21 his first full season.

Yount defensively blows Jeter out of the water. How Jeter managed to get 5 Gold Glove Awards is a mystery on par with Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance.

Jeter's dWAR in 20 seasons as a shortstop is a -9.5.
Yount's dWAR in 10 seasons as a shortstop is a 12.5.

Yet Jeter has 5 Gold Gloves, and Yount got one.

Sure...right.