Let's say a player gets 3,000 hits..........
Tomi
Posts: 643 ✭✭✭
.............but it takes him 25 years to do it. Does he make the Hall Of fame or not?
Finishes with a .285 career average but never puts up incredible offensive or defensive numbers, just average.
If not, how many years should he get the 3,000 hits to make the Hall Of Fame.
Only going off 3,000 hits with a mediocre statistical career.
Finishes with a .285 career average but never puts up incredible offensive or defensive numbers, just average.
If not, how many years should he get the 3,000 hits to make the Hall Of Fame.
Only going off 3,000 hits with a mediocre statistical career.
0
Comments
Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro and Craig Biggio.
Craig will get in soon enough. He just retires in 2007. The other 2 aren't in for obvious reasons. So Id say yes to your answer. It guarantees you in the Hall Of Fame. Figures if you played for 20 plus years with 3000 hits, other achievements/accomplishments eventually happen along the way.
In my opinion, no, but in general I am against the idea of adding so many players to the HOF anyway, as that cheapens the meaning of it. I realize alot of people won't agree with me, but that's ok. The HOF has to keep adding players to keep people interested and so on. Personally I wouldn't mind it if there were maybe 20-30 players (!) in the HOF entirely. It's not that there aren't alot of great players who deserve to be awarded for what they did, but to me HOF should mean that - the best of the best of the best - not "well he was the best at that position during the early 70s" or whatever. Maybe they could have a hall of really good players for the next level!
In some cases, I feel players on the edge are put in to the HOF partly because it makes their fans happy, makes them go out to the HOF and buy memorabilia, etc. and it doesn't really upset anyone that much - if it were done my way, maybe they'd put a new player in every 5 or so years!
However many players are in the HOF, you can always find one more guy who is kind of deserving compared to others who are in there.
This is my feeling about all sports HOFs btw not just baseball.
Even if Mr X has never 'formally been associated with roids', the notion that A) it, and/or HGH was and/or is still undetectable makes everyone suspect and
ARod and Sosa have 600 HRs, but few thinking fans believe either man was totally clean. Even though I have no personal opinion about Craig Biggio, who seems to be a nice man and a good clean person, I think he is the textbook example of someone who may challenge the 3,000 hits automatic entry tradition. I have no evidence to link him with illegal activity of any kind, but he wouldn't get my HOF vote (if it mattered).
Roids turned Mark McGwire from Dave Kingman into Mickey Mantle; why couldn't they turn Biggio from Rennie Stennett into Cal Ripkin?
Look at his numbers...
And Craig Biggio is one of the most underrated players of all time.
Don't waste your time and fees listing on ebay before getting in touch me by PM or at gregmo32@aol.com !
And that's why this hypothetical will almost always remain just that...there are a lot of very good players with 2,500-2,900 hits, but it always seems
that only the best ones get to 3,000. Of course, with PEDs, a player like Palmeiro will not get in, but if you look just at his stats in a vacuum, he is
definitely a HOFer, as are Rose and Biggio.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I'm pretty sure he already knew the answer. And I've got to believe you were kidding about Yaz. I'm not a fan but still
for the era he played in and in comparison with his peers he was a no doubt about it HOF'er.
But if you average out his hits over his career it comes to less than 150 per and he had the 285 average.
His was a long and pretty consistent career.
Same with Kaline, (he belongs as well) I think about 220 players are in the Hall and the majority
were put in by the Vets committee. The writers less than 100.
Of course we have some that are marginal that were voted in by the writers too.
Also, during the 1960s after Maris hit 61 home runs, I think they raised the pitcher's mound for a few years, resulting in unbelievable pitching stats from the likes of Koufax, Marichal, Gibson, etc. Just look at the year 1968, for example. I think Yaz won the batting title that year, too, at 301., and .290 was like 2nd, 3rd, or 4th in the batting race.
Always looking for Mantle cards such as Stahl Meyer, 1954 Dan Dee, 1959 Bazooka, 1960 Post, 1952 Star Cal Decal, 1952 Tip Top Bread Labels, 1953-54 Briggs Meat, and other Topps, Bowman, and oddball Mantles.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>.............but it takes him 25 years to do it. Does he make the Hall Of fame or not?
Finishes with a .285 career average but never puts up incredible offensive or defensive numbers, just average.
If not, how many years should he get the 3,000 hits to make the Hall Of Fame.
Only going off 3,000 hits with a mediocre statistical career. >>
It used to be automatic to make the Hall, just like 500 home runs.
Now both would be a case by case situation.
For instance Johnny Damon is approaching 2800 hits. If he can latch on another year and a half to 2 years.
He'll be in the 3000 hit club....Is he Hall Of Fame material?
Website: http://www.qualitycards.com
He'll be in the 3000 hit club....Is he Hall Of Fame material?
It's a loooong stretch from 2,800 to 3,000. Harold Baines and Julio Franco come to mind..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
He was a first ballot HOF'er. Hint: his rookie card was 1968. If you compare these numbers to Dale Murphy's they are eerily similar.
First ballot hall of famer
2158 8674 7658 1091 2048 381 24 389 1376 68 43 891 1278 .267 .342 .476 .817 126 3644 201 19 11 90 135
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
Dale Murphy
2180 9041 7960 1197 2111 350 39 398 1266 161 68 986 1748 .265 .346 .469 .815 121 3733 209 28 6 60 159
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
<< <i>Offense only doesn't always tell the whole story. Look at these numbers for someone everybody knows as one of the greatest ever.
He was a first ballot HOF'er. Hint: his rookie card was 1968. If you compare these numbers to Dale Murphy's they are eerily similar.
First ballot hall of famer
2158 8674 7658 1091 2048 381 24 389 1376 68 43 891 1278 .267 .342 .476 .817 126 3644 201 19 11 90 135
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
Dale Murphy
2180 9041 7960 1197 2111 350 39 398 1266 161 68 986 1748 .265 .346 .469 .815 121 3733 209 28 6 60 159
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB >>
Even though Murphy did come up as a catcher, he spent most of his career in the OF. As similar as those numbers are statistically, you just can't really compare a player like Bench who crouched behind the plate the majority of his career with an outfielder.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Adrian Beltre also comes to mind, I believe he is over 2000 hits at 34.....
Edited to add: Potentially move him over the hump if he gets 3000 hits: Juan Pierre can move into the top ten for all time stolen bases. He has 577, needs 723 to move pass Honus Wagner. "Another" World Series win would be nice too, he did help the Marlins win the big one in 2003.
<< <i>For instance Johnny Damon is approaching 2800 hits. If he can latch on another year and a half to 2 years.
He'll be in the 3000 hit club....Is he Hall Of Fame material?
It's a loooong stretch from 2,800 to 3,000. Harold Baines and Julio Franco come to mind.. >>
This guy knows what I'm talking about (the emcee points to Al Oliver who realizes the spotlight caught him drinking his Old Fashioned through the straw). And speaking of collusion....
To be honest, no direction, but...
1966-69 Topps EX+
1975 minis NrMt Kelloggs PSA 9
All Topps Heritage-Master Sets
<< <i>for me, the hall of fame is about dominance.
if you dominated as a player, you are a hall of famer.
hanging around and/or accumulating stats does not speak of dominance. >>
Most players who reach 300 wins or 3,000 hits were dominant players in their time as those milestones are in most cases not achieved
otherwise. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule and wins as a pitcher is probably one of if not the most misleading stats to assess
a pitcher's dominance as the win is predicated on your teammates scoring enough runs to put you in a position to win and in the last
20 years or so a bullpen that won't blow the lead you leave the game with.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>"hey Walnut, google is your friend."
I'm pretty sure he already knew the answer. And I've got to believe you were kidding about Yaz. I'm not a fan but still
for the era he played in and in comparison with his peers he was a no doubt about it HOF'er. >>
I think you could actually make a pretty strong case AGAINST Yaz. He was a corner outfielder who put up big power numbers 3 times in his career - and then spent the rest of his career putting up .270/17/80. Yes, he had some good batting average and doubles years early on as well. Is he a HOF'er? IMHO, barely. Put another way - he wasn't nearly as great a player as he's remembered being.
Tabe
Regarding Yaz, I think he hit 475 home runs. Most people, rightly, think of 500 home runs as the Magic Number for the HOF. However, up until as late as the early nineties, every eligible player with 400 career homers was in Cooperstown.
Not until Dave Kingman came along, who by all accounts was a poor player in almost every aspect outside of his ability to hit the long ball, did someone not get enshrined. Darrell Evans was the next, a few years later. So 475 was a huge number for most of baseball history, and Yaz wasa slam dunk.
Don't waste your time and fees listing on ebay before getting in touch me by PM or at gregmo32@aol.com !
There are many legit arguments about certain players enshrined, but Yaz is not one of them.
It would be a lot easier to say "yes" to a 25 year, 3,000 hit career if there were periods of dominant performance (League leading in hits, avg. etc.). I am no expert on the history of Hall of Fame voting, but the Veteran's Committee has put in a lot of players with 2,400 - 2,800 hits in the HOF which, IMHO, accelerated the "well, so 'n so is in the Hall with these numbers, so why shouldn't __________ be in there??" That makes 3,000 career hits look all the more impressive to voters.
It's a good topic, though. I think the HOF is a little watered down
1991 & 1992 Fleer Pro Visions
1952 Topps
<< <i>Al Kaline was borderline at best, never dominant or imposing >>
Please put down the crack pipe.
A) 3400 hits is hardly squeaking in. True, it was 7th all time when he retired, but that was 1983. Look at who's passed him since then. Uh.....Pete Rose? That nobody??? Rose isn't even in the HOF
C) Only 7 Gold Gloves? Loser
D) Something something Crown. Means nothing
E) Seasons with 100 K's: 0.0 Heck, some of those roids guys reached 100 Ks by the All Star break. Yaz played forever and he's only 77th on the alltime K list. What a dorkus majorkus.
F) I've taken a stats course or two in college and I give some weight to baseball-reference's Black Ink and Grey Ink metrics. While Yaz did more than double the average HOFer in Black Ink and HOF Monitor metrics, it is sadly true that he is only 38th all time in Grey Ink and barely above the average HOFer in the HOF Standards category. No doubt a result of milking those fat late 70s Yawkey family contracts.
*vi prego di scusarmi, ho avuto troppo da bere
IMO, no. No one stat should be automatic. A pitcher could have 400 wins but have 500 loses with an ERA of 4.50
A hitter could have 3000 hits but they could have been all singles in the first three innings and he recorded zero RBI's in his career.
Of course, all these examples are a little on the twilight zone side but it is possible for a player to have a HOF stat in one area & be very weak in other areas. So weak that they may not be HOF material, as some of you have pointed out examples like Kingman, & I would throw in Dale Murphy also.
As far as Kaline or Yastrzemski status, anybody that would question them is strictly looking at stats and never watched them play. When a team played the Redsox or the Tigers, they were the players pitchers did not want coming up with runners on late in a game. They both led their teams in many different positive ways.
Once again, it's just my opinion, but I think every player in the Hall deserves to be there. Some for short term domination, like Sandy Koufax. Some for being able to get the job done for many years after their prime, such as Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry and some for the fear they put into oppisite hitters or pitchers, such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver etc.....
20 seems like a cut off. Either you're Nolan Ryan, Phil Niekro or one of those guys. Or you end solid at 19 or 20.
-I would say 3,000 hits is definitely a hall of fame benchmark. Put another way, how many hitters ever get there? A very small number. I think it shows you've played through a lot of ups and downs. You've played through lean years, say years 10-14. And you end solid.
It's tougher than people realize, the only active guy is Jeter. 400 homeruns, 425 use to be the current 500.
Biggio must be one of the most underrated players in any sport in the last 20 years. It's like he flew completely under the radar to 3,000. Playing in small market Houston helped....i.e. look at all the attention the Yankees and Redsox have gotten in the last 10-12 years.
-I think the fact that so many great hitters fell short of 3,000, makes it more unique and special. Look at all the names at 2,800, 2,900.
Ruth, Gehrig, Frank Robinson, Gehringer, Ted Williams!!, Dimaggio, Jimmie Foxx. That's some list who didn't make it.
A guy like Dave Parker would have gotten in with 3,000 or 3,100. Its hard to be a top hitter though in your late 30's, early 40's.
Ruth, Gehrig, Frank Robinson, Gehringer, Ted Williams!!, Dimaggio, Jimmie Foxx. That's some list who didn't make it.
Good points about the difficulty in reaching 3,000 hits. In the case of Ted Williams, however, had he not spent about 5 years
during his prime serving in the military, he'd have possibly reached 3,500 hits, certainly 3,000.
A lot of very good hitters, especially power hitters, also have lower hit totals due to getting a lot of walks.
Babe Ruth walked over 2,000 times!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>Offense only doesn't always tell the whole story. Look at these numbers for someone everybody knows as one of the greatest ever.
He was a first ballot HOF'er. Hint: his rookie card was 1968. If you compare these numbers to Dale Murphy's they are eerily similar.
First ballot hall of famer
2158 8674 7658 1091 2048 381 24 389 1376 68 43 891 1278 .267 .342 .476 .817 126 3644 201 19 11 90 135
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
Dale Murphy
2180 9041 7960 1197 2111 350 39 398 1266 161 68 986 1748 .265 .346 .469 .815 121 3733 209 28 6 60 159
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB >>
So whos numbers are these? Bench?
My Sandberg topps basic set
My Sandberg Topps Master set
<< <i>
<< <i>Offense only doesn't always tell the whole story. Look at these numbers for someone everybody knows as one of the greatest ever.
He was a first ballot HOF'er. Hint: his rookie card was 1968. If you compare these numbers to Dale Murphy's they are eerily similar.
First ballot hall of famer
2158 8674 7658 1091 2048 381 24 389 1376 68 43 891 1278 .267 .342 .476 .817 126 3644 201 19 11 90 135
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
Dale Murphy
2180 9041 7960 1197 2111 350 39 398 1266 161 68 986 1748 .265 .346 .469 .815 121 3733 209 28 6 60 159
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB >>
So whos numbers are these? Bench? >>
Those are Bench's numbers. It is kind of difficult to compare numbers between someone who played 1700+ games at catcher and someone who played 85 games as a catcher and 1800+ games as an outfielder.
<< <i>
Ruth, Gehrig, Frank Robinson, Gehringer, Ted Williams!!, Dimaggio, Jimmie Foxx. That's some list who didn't make it.
Good points about the difficulty in reaching 3,000 hits. In the case of Ted Williams, however, had he not spent about 5 years
during his prime serving in the military, he'd have possibly reached 3,500 hits, certainly 3,000.
A lot of very good hitters, especially power hitters, also have lower hit totals due to getting a lot of walks.
Babe Ruth walked over 2,000 times! >>
True, but 3,000 hits was still tough for a lot of good players.
Dimaggio lost 3 years to military service, but he only had 2,200 hits. 200 hits a year for those years would have kept him short.
Guys like Foxx and other 30's hitters (Mel Ott, Pie Traynor, Heinie Manush), they had nice career averages of .300 or .320, but still fell short.
Mantle had 2,400. Some simply struck out too much, Reggie Jackson?
DiMaggio's career (13 seasons with military service factored in) was too short to have reached 3,000 hits, as he'd have to have
averaged 230 hits a season to do that.
3,000 hits is a milestone but longevity has as much to do with it than ability to get base hits. And as I said earlier,
the better hitters also walk a lot which cuts into their hit total, but those players usually have superior OBP%.
In the case of Ted Williams, no question he'd have finished with well over 3,000 hits, maybe even 3,500 hits if he hadn't
spent the equivalent of 5 full seasons flying bomber missions during WWII and Korea.
Edit to add: To further illustrate the role longevity plays in the equation, Rose had 4,256 hits but his lifetime BA
was .303, while DiMaggio's is .325 and Williams at an astounding .344.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
(Age in parentheses)
Ivan Rodriguez (39) – 2,842
Omar Vizquel (44) – 2,831
Alex Rodriguez (35) – 2,762
Johnny Damon (37) – 2,662
Chipper Jones (39) – 2,565
Vladimir Guerrero (36) – 2,513
Miguel Tejada (37) – 2,353
Bobby Abreu (37) – 2,343
Ichiro Suzuki (37) – 2,343
Todd Helton (37) – 2,319
Edgar Renteria (34) – 2,284
Jim Thome (40) – 2,239
Magglio Ordonez (37) – 2,107
Carlos Lee (35) – 2,057
Orlando Cabrera (36) – 2,020
Scott Rolen (36) - 2,001
Adrian Beltre (32) – 1,985
**List not up to date **
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
1785 games, 222 HR, 1007 runs scored, 1099 RBI, 2153 hits, 442 doubles, 20 triples, .307 batting average, .358 on base percentage, .471 slugging percentage
1783 games, 207 HR, 1071 runs scored, 1085 RBI, 2304 hits, 414 doubles, 57 triples, .318 batting average, .360 on base percentage, .477 slugging percentage.
(Edited to say -- I count 5 HOFers from the previous post)
Also, a career .318 average is pretty high. High for the early 90's. The only guys I can think of hitting better than Puckett then were HOF'ers....Boggs, Gwynn, etc.
As much as I like Mattingly, his numbers went down after 1990. You have to win a few world series rings to get in the Hall in a 12-14 year career. The exceptions being a defensive ace like Sandberg.
Sandberg makes the 10 top 2nd baseman of all time, but Mattingly I dont think would be even top 15. Too many guys have hit for power at 1st.
Maybe yes to Thome after a few years on the ballot.
No to all others, at least at this point.
then consider what you would need to do to stay in the game at that level for that long.
you'd need to remain productive all the way up to a time when guys half your age are supposedly capable of doing it much better.
in defense of longetivity, it should almost be a given that you deserve such consideration for placement as an All-Time great, irregardless of a pile of gaudy numbers.
like Steve.
<< <i>Al Kaline was borderline at best, never dominant or imposing >>
Here's another perspective from this blog.
Kaline made so many fantastic catches, whether it was diving for balls, running down long fly balls, or climbing a fence and with perfect timing robbing a batter of a home run. I have five different photos of Kaline making great catches and every one is against the dreaded Yankees. Four of the five are at Yankee Stadium.
Never mind his remarkable ability to make spectacular catches.
Kaline’s arm was a howitzer.
He once threw out at runner at second while making a throw from a sitting position. And when a hitter sliced a ball into Kaline’s Corner at Tiger Stadium, Al would make his patented spin playing the ball off the wall before whirling to make a throw at second. If he didn’t throw the runner out, chances are its because the runner didn’t even try for second knowing of Kaline’s powerful arm.
One of my greatest memories at Tiger Stadium occurred while sitting in the third row of the upper deck between home and third.
A long fly ball was hit to Kaline, and as he caught it, Baltimore’s Paul Blair tagged from third and headed home. Suddenly, half way down the line, Blair turned back and dove for third because Kaline had thrown the ball directly into catcher Bill Freehan’s glove on the fly. I am not kidding, the whole crowd stood as one and gave Kaline a loud standing ovation.
It still gives me chills.
<< <i>Regarding Yaz, with all respect*:
A) 3400 hits is hardly squeaking in. True, it was 7th all time when he retired, but that was 1983. Look at who's passed him since then. Uh.....Pete Rose? That nobody??? Rose isn't even in the HOF
C) Only 7 Gold Gloves? Loser
D) Something something Crown. Means nothing
E) Seasons with 100 K's: 0.0 Heck, some of those roids guys reached 100 Ks by the All Star break. Yaz played forever and he's only 77th on the alltime K list. What a dorkus majorkus.
F) I've taken a stats course or two in college and I give some weight to baseball-reference's Black Ink and Grey Ink metrics. While Yaz did more than double the average HOFer in Black Ink and HOF Monitor metrics, it is sadly true that he is only 38th all time in Grey Ink and barely above the average HOFer in the HOF Standards category. No doubt a result of milking those fat late 70s Yawkey family contracts.
*vi prego di scusarmi, ho avuto troppo da bere >>
You actually backed up what I was saying without even realizing it. As I mentioned, Yaz was a stud up til 1970. After that, you got a ton of average seasons. Look it up - for all his "led the league" numbers, he led the league exactly once in something after 1970 - runs (93) in 1974.
Yes, he led the league in 10 different categories, which is pretty darn remarkable, especially since he did all 10 in 1967. Well, he actually led the league in *11* categories but we're not really counting GDPs are we?
The fact that Yaz was dominant a few years early in his career, totaled 3400 hits, and still ended at a .285 batting average is pretty indicative that he had a LOT of "eh" years at the plate after 1970. And the simple fact is, he really DID have a lot of "eh" years at the plate after 1970.
As I said, Yaz is a HOF'er but he wasn't nearly as good as he's remembered. Or, at least, he wasn't great for as long as people think he was.
Tabe
:-)
A) Nobody knows what I do or don't realize.
But I have his baseball-reference page open and here's what IT shows he led the AL in:
BATTING CROWN: 1963, 1967, 1968
ON BASE PERCENTAGE: 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970
SLUGGING: 1965, 1967, 1970
OPS: 1965, 1967, 1970
RUNS: 1967, 1970, 1974
HITS: 1963, 1970
TOTAL BASES: 1967, 1970
DOUBLES: 1963, 1965, 1966
WALKS: 1963, 1968
HOMERS: 1967
RBIs: 1967
So that's 11 things (NOT including GIDP). Pick any 10 of them. ***Please also note that if you take 1967 out of the equation, it leaves Yaz leading the league 20 times in just the above-mentioned major batting categories over 6 separate seasons. Not too shabby in my opinion, but I'm sure most of the other HOFers have done that much more often***
C) I'm 43 years old myself and I am not familiar with nor do I understand most of the newer Jamesian metrics. But, again, according to baseball-reference, Yaz also lead the league in these made-up sounding categories. I couldn't tell you what most of them meant if my life depended on it:
WAR: 1967 1968 1970
ADJUSTED OPS+: 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970
RUNS CREATED: 1963, 1967, 1968, 1970
ADJUSTED BATTING WINS: 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970
TIMES ON BASE: 1963, 1967, 1968, 1970
If you're thinking that these secondary stats are BS, I'm right there with you. I left off about 20 more "categories" Yaz led the league in.
D) Yaz also appears to have led the AL in OF assists in 1962, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1971 and 1977. I forgot to mention that the other night. Oh, and he had a couple hundred Home Runs. I did mention the coupla Gold Gloves and the All Star selections, didn't I??? Oh, and the Triple Crown. Which is pretty common nowadays, but was rare back in the 60s.
E) It's impossible for me to address 'how he's remembered'. I remember him playing amazing defense and hitting the Pesky Pole when I saw him as a child. Other Bostoners such as my friends and family may remember him failing to win the World Series in 1967, or 1975, or 1977, or 1978. Memories differ; that is why many baseball fans place such a strong emphasis on stats.
There's a difference between saying "I remember Reggie Jackson being better than Andre Dawson", which I would call more subjective, and saying "Over the period 1963 - 1977, Carl Yastrzemski led the AL in over 20 categories, including Batting, Hits, Home Runs, OF Assists and Walks", which can be proven or disproven.
I'm going to stop typing now, to minimize the number of TLDR's that this post gets. Believe what you want; I don't honestly care. To me the facts, i.e. the statistics, confirm that Yaz was one of the best players of all time, measured by such conventional means as offensive production, longevity, defensive skill and breadth of achievement. Maybe all of this continues to prove your point. I don't know.