So let’s rank the other three and as soon as we reach a guy who isn’t Hall of Fame worthy, we can stop. Hernandez has the best rate stats, but the worst counting stats because by most accounts, he was a jerk and no one wanted him on their team. He didn’t get those last five years just hanging around padding his resume. Of course, Garvey was no choir boy, so Donnie Baseball is probably the only guy you’d want to see go to the Hall just because you’d like to see him get honored as a person. Mattingly and Hernandez were excellent defensive first baseman, which is a lot like being the sanest guy in the loony bin. If either of them were that good defensively, they wouldn’t be playing first base.

None of them have the milestones that merit induction, but looking at the numbers and the careers of each of these three, Mattingly is the best of the lot. He had a short career, punctuated by a great but brief peak. He was the best defensively, the best offensively, and the best as a human being. He wins on all counts, so does Mattingly deserve induction?