Lou, go out on the web. Look at lists of the greatest defensive first baseman of all time. More often than not, he's #1 on the list. If he's not #1 on the list, he's close to it.
Here's a poll on Baseball Fever that Hernandez wins, taking 44% of the vote"
Baseball Fever.
Twenty names listed, and he's the top vote getter. And there are references in the discussion to other polls taken in other places, including sabermetric-based sites, where Keith Hernandez won.
Just from my own personal discussions with baseball fans, Cardinal and Mets fans I've talked with, he's absolutely revered for his defensive play. His intensity, and his talent, just separated him from the pack.
Go to Youtube, and watch the highlight films of him playing. Nothing gets by him. He's diving for balls all over the field. When somebody was dumb enough to bunt against the Mets, Hernandez would come rushing in, grab the ball, and beat the runner going to second with an absolute lightning strike. I watched him play, and he's the best I've ever seen defensively. I got to see him in the '82 World Series with the Cardinals. He did nothing with the bat in the first three or four games. But he was awesome defensively. And then we only had to win one of the last two games to win the series. And Hernandez destroyed us. In the last three games if the series, after going oh for the first four games, he was 7 for 12 with two doubles, a home run and 8 RBI.
The guy's a vacuum with a glove.