That is an entirely different argument, but you are dead-on. For a time, he could hit in in the alleys and give you the occasional home run, but he was pretty limited the last 1/3 of his career. He was also a below-average fielder, though he was very versatile and made up for some of his shortcomings with his hustle.
All told, I think Pete squeezed more mileage out of his talent than anyone who ever played.
Everything you just wrote I have seen Pete say of himself.
His desire to win and his work ethic were I think an inspiration to all of us to do things we were not good at.
I am a retired EE and I was never great at math, but guys like Pete proved to me that trying ones best paid off in life.
Nevertheless all those records he had were done sometimes while injured, and he never made excuses on the field.
I hope he lives to see the day he is eventually honored for the long career and inspiration he was to us average people who like him tried our best.
If I was his family upon his death I would refuse him being inducted for IMHO it would be proof of the HOF being vindictive and if I were family it would be spitting in our fathers face to ask me as a family member to attend his induction, I would stay away in protest and let everyone know how pissed I was in how vindictive Baseball was.
Hope Pete lives a long life and makes Baseball look worse and worse every year.