Shouldn't Mikey Rivers be in the Hall of Fame?

First argument you make is "he had to play with Reggie in right." Sorry, but if you put every center fielder who had to play with a poor right fielder in the hall based on that, there'd be about 1000 centerfielders in there.

2nd argument - a great lead off hitter? Sorry again - his stats are more like a number 8 or 9 hitter. He was the llead offhitter more by default than anything else.

3rd argument - Being colorful is not an "intangible". While it may be fun for the fans, it has nothing to do with qualifying for the hall of fame. Turk Wendell was pretty darn colorful. So was Jay Johnstone. And even John Rocker could qualify for that description, On the other hand, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Harmon Killebrew, and Ryne Sandberg were down right boring.

And to mention Mattingly and Murcer in the same sentence as Yaz should be illegal. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised my head didn't just explode from doing it myself.

Please tell me you're joking.

I assume you're not really serious about this.

Rivers wasn't even that great of a lead-off hitter. He had a career batting average of .295, but he never walked, and his career on-base percentage was only .327.

He batted leadoff because he was fast, and that was the stereotype at the time. But if a leadoff guy's job is to get on base, Rivers didn't do that very well at all. His two best OBP years with the Yankees were 1977 (.350) and 1976 (.327). That was good enough for 5th among YANKEE regulars in BOTH years. He finished a point behind Munson's .351 in 1977 and TEN points behind Munson's .337 in 1976. Munson was 4th on the Yankees in OBP in both of those seasons.

Rivers' top 10 comps:

1. Jo-Jo Moore (941)

2. Lance Johnson (928)

3. Pete Fox (926)

4. Enos Cabell (926)

5. Mookie Wilson (920)

6. Matty Alou (919)

7. Cesar Tovar (916)

8. Al Bumbry (916)

9. Jerry Mumphrey (915)

10. Cy Seymour (914)

Not exactly an elite group.

Rivers made the all-star team exactly one time (1976).

I realize your comment was more of a humorous poke at Reggie's defense than anything else, but do you really think Rivers' career was of HOF quality?

I don't think Rivers would qualify for Prime 9 even if they did a show on the top 9 YANKEES who aren't in the HOF. Of course, I don't think Mattingly qualifies as a HOF either, so that should tell you where I am on Rivers.

EDIT: Woah! You think Murcer was on Yaz's level?

Murcer was a 5x all star. Yaz was an 18x all star, an MVP and a Triple Crown winner....not to mention a 450 HR man and a 3,400 hit man...but I'll mention it anyway.

I sense a pattern here lol.

i think he shouldnt get in. while ur right that he was a great fielder and had to cover a lot of ground with reggie in right he just doesnt have the offensive stats to be a HOFer. 295 career hitter is pretty good but not astonishing. 61 careeer HRs, 499 career RBIs, and only 267 steals. 327 Ops which isnt good for a leadoff hitter. and only 1 all star game. he's not really even close to a HOFer. He did have a couple good years but only really played 6 full seasons (only 6 seasons with 130 or more games played) which is very few for not being a pitcher or catcher. My prediction is he doesnt get enough % of the vote to be on the ballot next year. Sorry Mickey. But for the good news, He will continued to be honored at Yankees stadium on Old Timers day.

Oh come on.

This is a classic case of overrating everyone who ever played for the Yankee$. I would support Don Mattingly before Mickey Rivers, and Mattingly really doesn't have a strong case for the HOF.

Mickey Rivers

Rivers was a nice little player but the only way he gets in the Hall is if he buys a ticket.

This is a joke question, right?