Jose Altuve Is The Third Best Second Baseman Since Integration

Chris Klemmer10/21/2023 9:30 PM

KEVIN M COX. Shutterstock Images.

Jose Altuve's home run last night was just another fantastic moment for him in a season full of them. This year alone, he got his 2000th hit, hit for the cycle and now he has the Astros one game away from going back to the World Series. Pedro Martinez was saying in the post-game that he will end up being the greatest second baseman that ever lived.

In fairness to the greatest pitcher I've ever seen pitch in person, I don't think Altuve can reach that but Pedro isn't far off. If you include pre-integration (so before 1947), second base was a position with some insanely great players like Rogers Hornsby, Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins. They all had careers better than Altuve. You could say Hornsby was a top 5 player of all-time. I love old baseball as much as anyone but I don't really count those guys in this discussion. If Jose Altuve was born 80 years earlier, he wouldn't even be allowed to play in the MLB. So how can we say those players are better than him when they were facing lesser competition? So let's keep it to post-integration.

Giphy Images.

The only second baseman I have ahead of Altuve are Joe Morgan and Rod Carew. Altuve has passed Craig Biggio, Ryne Sandberg and Jackie Robinson (who would be ahead of Altuve if he wasn't cheated by racism and WWII) in my eyes. As awful of a broadcaster as Joe Morgan was for ESPN, he was that great of a player. He won 2 MVP's, over 2500 hits, 5th all-time in walks and was a good defensive second basemen. He led the league in WAR 4 times.

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Jose Altuve has had a more important career than Rod Carew already but at least up until this point, I have Carew ahead of him. Carew had 3000 hits and went to 18 All-Star Games. He also won 7 batting titles and an MVP. Altuve also has an MVP but only three batting titles. Carew's lifetime batting average is .323. However, Carew never went to a World Series. How much can you punish a guy for that? Ken Griffey Jr. never played in a World Series either. Neither did Ichiro. I don't think it should be a detractor necessarily but if Altuve can win a third ring, I can understand why people would start to rank Altuve ahead of Carew.

I have Altuve next on this list in some sort of tie with Roberto Alomar. Altuve's peak was better but Alomar has (so far) played longer. Alomar was better defensively (Altuve is the worst glove guy in this group of four greats) but Altuve did win an MVP. If we are talking off the field issues, Alomar is a legit bad human being. His ex-wife accused him of holding her at knifepoint and multiple women accused Alomar of exposing them to HIV. The Blue Jays had retired his number and have since taken it down. He's also currently banned from baseball.

So does all of this mean Jose Altuve will be a first ballot HOFer? It should be a clear yes but we need to talk about the cheating scandal of 2017. Rob Manfred and MLB have done their very best to sweep this under the rug. Other than Tim Donaghy and the NBA, I can't think of any other on-field sports scandal that has been so important and completely ignored. In fairness to Altuve, Jeff Passan does throw water on Wiregate at least.

But that doesn't excuse what happened in 2017. People are very quick to say the 2020 title for the Dodgers shouldn't count because it was a COVID year but that has a lot more integrity than the 2017 title for the Astros in my book. Cody Bellinger has even said that Altuve's MVP shouldn't count and he stole it from Aaron Judge. The Astros did cheat and Yankee and Dodger fans have every right to still be pissed off about it. All baseball fans should be. The Astros set up a camera in centerfield to steal signs and relay that back to the dugout where the team made noises (like banging trash cans) to signal what pitch was coming. That is cheating and that is fact.

In my opinion, MLB did Altuve no favors with how they handled the investigation. They wanted this to go away so badly, they punished no active players. By doing that, you painted them all as guilty. Peter Gammons has come out and said Altuve was aware of what was happening (the whole team was even rookies like Tony Kemp called up late in the season) but Altuve did not benefit. Some players (like Kemp) declined the heads up. Others like Carlos Beltran (who also helped develop the plan) did not.

Rick Yeatts. Getty Images.

Beltran is an interesting case study for Altuve's HOF timetable. If you take the scandal away, Beltran is absolutely a Hall Of Famer in my eyes. 2725 hits, 435 home runs, 70 WAR. Incredible baseball player who did everything really well. He even had 312 steals! Other than helping orchestrate the biggest team baseball scandal in 98 years, there is not a single flaw in Beltran's game. Last winter, he had his first year of Hall Of Fame eligibility.

He got 46.5% of the vote.

We all know HOF voters love nothing more than punishing baseball players. It's the time when the tables have turned and these guys who spent careers waiting by locker rooms and being shit on by players get their revenge. Take the steroid guys out of it. They made Jim Rice wait 15 years because he was a dick to them.

Is Beltran a first ballot HOFer? I kind of hate the debate because you either are or aren't a HOFer. Why make these guys wait? But a lot of writers disagree and I do think you'll see a bump for Beltran next year and he gets in before the decade is out.

Bob Levey. Getty Images.

Altuve is a different case. He's a clearer HOFer than Beltran is. He's also 33 so it's not like his career is close to being done. 3000 hits is not entirely out of the question. Imagine if he can finish with a couple more titles? I also think time will help Altuve more than anything. Beltran is facing the music because he's first out of the gate. When Justin Verlander gets in, I'm guessing people are going count the 2017 title as one of his championships and not even mention the scandal.

I do think Altuve will get in on the first ballot. If you disagree, I do understand. He's been so great since the scandal was made public. I truly don't believe that's a reason to hold back his greatness. This is a guy who came up with the Astros when they were the worst team in baseball. He had to sit through seasons where they lost 106, 107 and 111 games. He is the Andy Dufresne of baseball crawling through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness to be the key player on the best team in baseball since 2017.