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No offense, but a stupid question. Ozzie Smith is/was the greatest fielder of any player at any position of all time (yes, better than Bench, B. Robinson, Mazeroski, and DiMaggio/Mays/Speaker). No question he belongs in, and on the first ballot.

Just curious, and this really isn't a flame, but how can you say Ozzie Smith was a better defensive player than Tris Speaker? Did you see both of them play?

Or, for that matter, can you say that Ozzie was even a better defensive shortstop than, say, Marty Marion or Rabbit Maranville or Dickey Pearce, who is generally credited with having invented the position?

I think that's difficult (and you might be the oldest living Freeper if you saw both Smith and Speaker play, in which case you have my congratulations :) That's why HOF players should be compared with those players in their generation.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever played right field as good as Roberto Clemente, aka "Arriba". The arm, the speed, the grace. No match there. He had a lot of assists but many teams wouldnt dare try for third on him.