at the HBP remark…as if that’s relevant in the least.

Like I said, he’s better. But I don’t think markedly so…particularly when you compensate for park factor (and sorry, OPS+ does not accurately reflect park factor as much as it should…at least not on B-R, Coors Field is ample evidence of this if you’d like me to pull numbers), strike-zone size (biased, I know…but I don’t doubt for a second the shear volume of calls Jeter gets), or lineup presence (Jeter’s entire career spent surrounded by bigger lineup threats).

You also have to account for the fact that G.A.‘s averages are dragged down considerably by playing a few of his ’final years’ that Jeter has not yet had to. In fact, Jeter’s regression last year pulled down his averages substantially for his career (B.A. alone dropping FOUR points). If not for the current band box, those numbers would be continuing to regress (albeit not at the same rate as they did the year before). Removing the flukey arthritis G.A. has coped with, I’m confident they would have been neck-and-neck.

It’s more than a little dishonest to tell me Jeter has played “nine fewer games” without also noting that despite nine fewer, he’s had EIGHT-HUNDRED more plate appearances…a number that’s far more a result of their respective lineups than anything else. That’s about 1.25 SEASONS worth of baseball right there. Surely that puts a substantial dent in G.A.’s run deficiency, while also buoying the strength of his RBI total (1.25 seasons worth of G.A. RBIs is about 130; 1.25 seasons worth of his runs is about 85), to essentially negate that gap.

In those 800 fewer appearances, he has 61 more homers and 78 more doubles. At G.A.‘s career .295 average (and Jeter’s .317 will in all likelihood be closer to .310 by career’s end, as an aside), those 800 plate appearances (about 750 at-bats at G.A.‘s career pace for PA/AB ratio) translate to 221 hits. I’ll be fair and move it down to around 200. It doesn’t put him very far behind Jeter’s hit total. For his entire career, Jeter has only 29 total bases more than G.A (3,971 to 3,942)…this despite an additional 800 plate appearances? That’s rather staggering. It’s also a product of their ISOs. Jeter’s being .142, and G.A.’s being .170.

The only compelling argument is that of the position they play. And while this holds some weight, I’ve honestly never thought much of it. Surely people “expect” certain positions to do better than others at the plate, but that doesn’t mean much. If someone happens to be able to hit very well, as both men do, it’s not like the position they ended up spending most of their developing years at would somehow be a drawback to their continued success at the plate. Jeter grew up hitting well. He also grew up playing shortstop. This doesn’t make it somehow any more amazing that he can hit that well. He’s a hitter who got slotted in to play shortstop, not a shortstop who somehow, defying expectations, can hit. In fact, the very fact that for most of his career he’s been an (at-best) below-average shortstop belies this notion. Perhaps his skills would have been better utilized in an outfield role, where his slower reaction time would have been less exploited than at shortstop, in which case his offense goes more unnoticed. Nevermind that the last 15 years or so have bucked the historical trend of offensive-inept middle infielders, where we saw the likes of Nomar, A-Rod, Jeter, and Tejada all coming up at the exact same time. So while historically it appears significant, really all it amounts to is showing me that poor offensive players had a history of playing at shortstop, rather than showing me that we should somehow EXPECT the two to go hand-in-hand.

And, since it bears repeating, Jeter is just plain and simply a SHITTY fielder. The type who could legitimately cost games. Something that was never even close to true about G.A.

So, all things considered, is Jeter the better player? Yes. Find where I said otherwise. The simple point was NOT that they’re equals. It’s that the discrepancy between their nationwide exposure could not possibly be more out of whack with their statistical contribution on the field. And, as evidenced statistically, the BIGGEST discrepancy (in OPS, OPS+, R, and OBP) is due largely to their walk totals. And it’s important to note that I never said walks weren’t significant. You act like I said Jeter is a mediocre player or something. That’s never been the point in the least. He’ll go the the Hall (frankly, though I obviously have no substantiation, I think a career with the Royals would have made him a markedly different player, statistically, and in terms of notoriety), and he should, given the established standards.

Of course, given those established standards, about 70% of baseball should be following Phil Rizzuto to Cooperstown. ;-D