Johnny Damon had his moment last night. Every great player needs a few, of course, and for Damon this is another in a growing list.
He had two homers in game seven of the unforgettable ALCS, including the cinching grand slam that put the Red Sox over the Yankees, the same year he coined the "idiots" label.
Last night, he had another, putting together a terrific and class at-bat against Phillies closer Brad Lidge -- who was riding a two-year run of near-perfection in the playoffs.
Damon fouled off five pitches before slapping the ninth he saw to left field for a single. It was vintage Damon, as he looked overmatched at times, but never out of it, finally coming through with what could've been just a footnote, two-out single. Except he then -- with the help of a collective Phillies brain mush -- turned that footnote into the sequence that changed the World Series.
Damon stole second base, and made it easily, and because the Phillies were in an exaggerated shift toward the right side with Mark Teixeira at the plate*, it was Philly third baseman Pedro Feliz who took the throw. Damon saw this, and when Feliz had to come in a step or two to take the throw, Damon sprinted toward the open third base, giving himself perhaps the first one-man double-steal in World Series history.
* Maybe my Google machine is broken, but I couldn't find the answer to this question: does the shift actually, um, you know, work? It annoys me for some reason, probably because it would be so easy to beat with a bunt or slap hit the other way, and I'd love to see a breakdown of how shift-candidates like Teixeira, David Ortiz, and Carlos Pena hit broken down to where the infielders are playing.
If anybody has a link, please e-mail or drop it in the comments. Thanks.
We can never know for sure, but it's rational to believe that Damon's steal affected Lidge. It could've been mental, as Lidge hit Teixeira. Or it could have been strategical, as Lidge -- proud owner of one of the game's best sliders -- threw two straight fastballs to Alex Rodriguez who, according to FanGraphs, this year is one of the game's best hitters against fastballs and mostly average against everything else.
Anyway, A-Rod roped the second fastball he saw to the left field wall, Damon scored, and the Yankees are now just one win away from the World Series championship.
All of which is just a long introduction to the question: is Johnny Damon a Hall of Famer?
He's sitting at 2,425 hits, so four more seasons and -- assuming the Yankees win one of the next three -- he'll have 3,000 hits along with (at least) two championship rings. Pretty good case, no?
He has scored more than 100 runs 10 times in his career. He will probably finish his career in the top 20 all-time, and perhaps even top 10 in runs scored.
It's a better career than you might think off hand, and in the end, his Hall candidacy probably depends more upon how closely voters draw their circle than anything.
For me, he falls just outside, as one of the really good players whose exclusion from the Hall makes the honor of being inducted even more special.
There are just too many holes in the argument. He's a top-of-the-order guy who strikes out more than he walks, is a career .288 hitter and never finished in the top 10 in on-base percentage (his career high was .382 in his last season with the Royals in 2000).
He is a corner outfielder with a legendarily bad arm who's led the league in something just three times -- runs (136) and steals (46) in 2000, and triples (11) in 2002. He's made just two All-Star teams, and never finished higher than 13th in MVP voting.
More than any of that, he's never been the best player at his position, or on his team. On Baseball Reference's similarity score, Lou Brock is the only Hall of Famer among the 10 listed with Damon (though Pete Rose is one of the others).
Anyway, the point here is not to bash a really good player the day after giving us a really great moment.
The point here is to solicit the thoughts of you fine readers while I prepare to jog off some of the cheesesteak from yesterday.
The Keltner List is a good tool to use in making judgments.
I can't stand Damon, because of how he left Kansas City, talked bad about the organization and city, and dumped his wife with two kides and talked bad about her in his book. I have rooted against the Sox and now the Yankees primarily because of Damon's presence.
However, he has been a remarkably consistent and productive player with a flair for the big play at the big time. I fear we will see another one in games 6 or 7. He also likey will make 3,000 hits, which probably punches his ticket.
To top it off, Damon has always cultivated a good relationship with the local sports writers wherever he has played. He has been the go to guy for quotes that show up in the account of the game, which I'm sure makes him popular with the press, who in turn will vote for the HOF.
One final interesting story. About 8 to 10 years ago, I heard Kevin Seitzer talk about Damon's terrible mechanics as a hitter and said there was a theory that Damon would deteriorate rapidly as a hitter once he reached his 30's because with a slight loss in his great natural abilities, he would no longer be able to play at a high level due to his awful mechanics. So much for that theory.