HomeHOWHow Many Gold Gloves Does Keith Hernandez Have

How Many Gold Gloves Does Keith Hernandez Have

Does Former Mets First Baseman Deserve to be in Hall of Fame?

Who is the player that you would most like to see in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

That was the question posed to a trio of baseball writers and analysts on MLB Network earlier this week.

Each member of the panel had to pick one. Jon Heyman — who also writes for the New York Post — made his selection clear.

“Mine is (former New York Mets first baseman) Keith Hernandez,” Heyman said. “128 OPS.”

Heyman was referring to Hernandez’s adjusted OPS+ for his career, which is 213th all-time in Major League Baseball.

Many of Hernandez’s stats, both traditional and analytic, put him among the Top 200 players in MLB history. Yet, the 69-year-old isn’t in the Hall of Fame.

Hernandez’s exclusion from the Hall of Fame is certainly noteworthy to Mets fans, as he was one of the biggest pieces of their run to the 1986 World Series title.

But, he won two World Series rings in his career — the other coming with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982. In 1979, with the Cardinals, he was the National League MVP. He made the All-Star team five times, won a pair of Silver Sluggers, claimed the 1979 NL batting title with a .344 average and was considered one of the best fielding first basemen of all-time with 11 straight Gold Gloves.

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In a 17-year career that saw him selected as a 42nd-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971, Hernandez never reached that 3,000-hit benchmark, as he finished with 2,182 hits for his career. His career slash line was .296/.384/.436/.821 with 162 home runs and 1,071 RBI.

In the WAR metric (Wins Above Replacement), he’s one of the top 200 players in MLB history, with a career 60.3 WAR (his WAR is No. 123 among position players). He finished in the Top 21 in MVP voting in nine straight seasons, beginning with his 1979 MVP year.

Overall, voters were not impressed when he was on the ballot from 1996-2004. He never received more than 11 percent of the vote (75 percent is needed for induction).

Hernandez missed his latest shot at the Hall last November when he was left off the Contemporary Era ballot. The only player that was voted in off that ballot was Fred McGriff. The next Contemporary Era ballot is set for 2025.

Who knows if Hernandez will ever get voted into the Hall of Fame. He’s already in both the Mets and Cardinals halls. He still calls Mets games for SNY. To many Mets, he’s a treasure.

And he still has at least one voter’s vote.

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