"ok ok ok thrax...but what i'm saying is that at least for 1998, you can say that he was underrated that year."

Actually, I'm pretty sure I was trying to articulate that 3rd in the MVP that year was just a typical overrating of Jeter.

I thought I made my point pretty clear that a strikeout prone, non power alley hitting, singles hitter with average speed and an average glove shouldn't win an MVP......ever. And that's why he hasn't won one.

greekboi: OMG
greekboi: ok ok
greekboi: cal ripken is better

Let's compare my idol with the "great Yankee captain". Offensively they are comparable if for no other reason than to say Jeter had protection his entire career, whereas Ripken WAS the protection in his lineup. Jeter played in the "liveball" era, and what Cal loses in batting average, he more than makes up for it with doubles, homers, and RBI's.

But let's look at the defensive side of the ball. There is one massively glaring statistic to look at when comparing these two on the defensive side of the game.

Cal Ripken played 20,232 innings of shortstop in his career. Derek Jeter has currently played 20,301 innings at short stop, almost an identical amount. Over Cal's career at short, he fielded (the statistic is called chances, i.e. plays where he got to the ball) 10,853 chances. Derek Jeter has fielded a mere 9,503 chances. That's a difference of 1,350 chances or about .6 extra outs PER GAME. That's an extra out every 13 innings that Ripken makes. Over a season this is a HUGE statistic.

Now, some in the future will look back and say "wow, Jeter had 5 gold gloves while Cal only had 2. Jeter must have been better at defense." Of course, gold gloves are voted on by the media, and the media loves Jeter. Also, Cal played a good deal of his career in the Omar Vizquel era, and Vizquel ranks among the all-time greats with a glove at short stop. Jeter doesn't have a transcendent competitor that shines year in/year out at short. The best shortstop in baseball has been played 3rd base for the Yankees most of Jeter's career, otherwise A-Rod would have about 8 gold gloves by now.

Let's dig a bit further into the statistics. Jeter's career fielding percentage is .977 whereas Cal's career percentage at SS was .979. During Jeter's time at short, the league average was .972 whereas Cal's league average was .968 (meaning Cal was .011 better than league average compared to Jeter being .005 better). This is a bigger stat when you consider Jeter's lack of range and inability to get to THE TRULY TOUGH BALLS WHERE ERRORS ARE USUALLY MADE. Remember that Cal got to 1,350 more balls than Jeter, meaning there were many more opportunities for error than with Jeter.

And since you were so quick to use WAR for the offensive stats, let's use a stat called "Rtot" from baseballreference.com where a player is compared to the average from his position. For Jeter's career he is a -131 (yes, a NEGATIVE 131) which means he is very below average for range and it costs his team runs. Ripken for his career at SS was +176. A stark contrast to Jeter.

So after that little analysis, please tell me why Jeter has won ANY gold gloves?

have you seen that ass?

On a different note, Jeter had a lot more quality pussy during his career than Cal did.

However, Cal had the opportunity to share his milestones with his kids. Single people would say Jeter had it better. Parents would say Cal had it better.

We'll call that one a push.

Ripken's goes to my old HS.

fiero600: who is Cal Ripken?

lulz

son*

I'm kinda bummed that I didn't get more argument out of this. I even held some statistics in reserve for the continuation of the argument.

Lack of argument = admission of my opinion being right?