Continuing the HOF debates -- Who Should NOT be in and why

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

Hal- no one is saying that 2B is any harder than the other infield position and that Maz is a better fielder than them. I, and others, have stated that he was the greatest fielding 2B and that is the main reason he is in the Hall. It's ridiculous to try and compare raw fielding numbers of players who do not play the same position. Talk to any person that serious stats analysis for SABR and they tell you that fielding stats are almost worthless and that it is the single most difficult part of the game to qualify becuase there are so many intangibles.

An example is Ozzie v Ripken. Ozzie could get to balls that Ripken would not even be able to touch, but becuase of this, it added to the chance that Ozzie would commit an error. i.e. Ozzie knocks down a ball at the outside of his range but the runner makes it safely to first and Ozzie gets an error. That same ball goes past Ripken into the gap for a double and Ripken gets no error. This is a big problem with fielding stats.

Jay