MORE: Jeter to retire after 2014 season
Yankees shortstop, and legend, Derek Jeter announced Wednesday that the 2014 season will be his last as a player in Major League Baseball. It will close the book on a surefire Hall of Fame career for one of the game's truly most recognizable faces for the past two decades.
Obviously, when a player like Jeter makes such an announcement at a time of the year when news is slow, we're bound to discuss many different angles on the news. In this space, let's go Eye on Baseball style and do some leaderboarding. We're going to look at Jeter's standing among shortstops in baseball history.
Spoiler alert: Jeter stacks up pretty well.
We'll either go top five or top 10, depending on where he fits in -- and, yes, this is all about Jeter since he's the reason we're posting this. Sue us.
Also fun is we can see where Jeter has a chance to rise (or fall, when it comes to the rate stats) this coming season.
[NOTE: Rate stats require at least 3,000 plate appearances and these rankings include players with at least half their games at shortstop]
Batting average
1. Honus Wagner, .327
2. Arky Vaughan, .318
3. Cecil Travis, .314
4. Nomar Garciaparra, .313
5. Derek Jeter, .312
On-base percentage
1. Vaughan, .406
2. Luke Appling, .399
3. Johnny Pesky, .394
4. Wagner, .391
5. Joe Sewell, .391
6. Hughie Jennings, .390
7. Solly Hemus, .390
8. Joe Cronin, .390
9. Alex Rodriguez, .384
10. Jeter, .381
OPS
1. Garciaparra, .882
2. Hanley Ramirez, .879
3. Troy Tulowitzki, .877
4. Vaughan, .859
5. Cronin, .857
6. Wagner, .853
7. Jeter, .828
8. Barry Larkin, .815
9. Vern Stephens, .815
10. John Valentin, .814
OPS+
1. Wagner, 153
2. Vaughan, 136
3. Ramirez, 132
4. Garciaparra, 124
5. Tulowitzki, 120
6. Lou Boudreau, 120
7. Stephens, 119
8. Cronin, 119
9. Jeter, 117
10. Larkin, 116
Hits
1. Wagner, 3415
2. Jeter, 3316
3. Cal Ripken, 3184
4. Robin Yount, 3142
5. A-Rod, 2939
Take note that 99 hits this season will tie Jeter with the great Honus Wagner for most ever by a shortstop.
Runs
1. A-Rod, 1919
2. Jeter, 1876
3. Wagner, 1736
4. Ripken, 1647
5. Yount, 1632
This is juicy. What if A-Rod never plays again? It's feasible. In that case, Jeter has a great shot to end up as the top dog among shortstops in both hits and runs.
RBI
1. A-Rod, 1969
2. Wagner, 1732
3. Ripken, 1695
4. Ernie Banks, 1636
5. George Davis, 1437
6. Cronin, 1424
7. Yount, 1406
8. Miguel Tejada, 1302
9. Jeter, 1261
10. Bill Dahlen, 1233
He has a good chance to hop Tejada this year, but Jeter has to stay healthy. Still, this is impressive for a guy who spent nearly his entire career toward the top of the order.
Doubles
1. Wagner, 640
2. Ripken, 603
3. Yount, 583
4. Jeter, 525
5. A-Rod, 519
Home runs
1. A-Rod, 654
2. Banks, 512
3. Ripken, 431
4. Tejada, 307
5. Jeter, 256
Walks
1. Appling, 1302
2. A-Rod, 1240
3. Pee Wee Reese, 1210
4. Donie Bush, 1158
5. Toby Harrah, 1154
6. Ripken, 1129
7. Ozzie Smith, 1072
8. Dahlen, 1064
9. Cronin, 1059
10. Jeter, 1047
Looks like seventh is a good bet if Jeter can stay healthy.
Hit-by-pitch
1. Jennings, 287
2. A-Rod, 169
3. Kid Elberfeld, 165
4. Jeter, 164
5. David Eckstein, 143
He moves into second this season, in all likelihood (again, if healthy).
1.Wagner, 138.1
2. A-Rod, 111
3. Ripken, 92.5
4. G. Davis, 84.6
5. Dahlen, 77.5
6. Jeter, 73.8
7. Appling, 72.7
8. Vaughan, 72.6
9. Larkin, 67.7
10. O. Smith, 67.6
WAR, baseball-reference.com version
1. Wagner, 130.6
2. A-Rod, 115.7
3. Ripken, 95.6
4. G. Davis, 84.8
5. Yount, 77.1
6. O. Smith, 76.5
7. Dahlen, 75.3
8. Appling, 74.5
9. Vaughan, 73
10. Jeter, 71.6
Jeter's also 15th in slugging percentage, 20th in stolen bases and all over the place on other leaderboards. Oh, and he has those pesky five rings.
We already knew Jeter was a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest shortstops in baseball history, but it's still fun to see where he ranks among the other greats. He's done quite well for himself.
And he's not done yet.
