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John/z28jdMentioning Keith Hernandez and Mark McGwire in the same sentence when talking about defense is one of the most ridiculous statements ive ever heard.Jay is 100% correct,if McGwire hit 10 hr's a year he wouldnt have been considered a gold glove winner on his best day.Mattingly was a very good defensive player,i saw him play every day and didnt like him one bit because i never liked the Yankees and i can admit that he was well above average.Thats one of the reasons he was able to play 3rdbase and even 2nd despite being a lefty.
McGwire is highly comparible to Ralph Kiner and they show that too much credit is given to one aspect of the game.I cant see someone saying,yeah i hit homers but i also batted .263 struck out 150 times a year,would lose a foot race to Ron Hassey and played almost average defense(and wasnt a catcher,cf,ss or 2b),why shouldnt i be in the hall of fame!
Ive said this before and this is just my own way of thinking.Take away a guys best season then look at his stats and let me know how good he is.If he makes the hall of fame on the first ballot his stats should still warrant induction without his best season.Without his 70 HR season id tell McGwire TS and go hang out with Canseco and talk about your bash brothers days.That being said i still think hes a hall of famer based on hall of fames standards now but if he gets more votes than Ripken or Gwynn it will show voters are very misinformed and infatuated with HR's