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When determining whether a player deserves inclusion in the Hall Of Fame he must be measured against the peers of his particular era. Before Ripken, Garciaparra, Jeter, and A-Rod, Ozzie Smith was the greatest shortstop of his era.

Remember that Ozzie played most of his career on astroturf, during a time when turf was in roughly half of all major league ballparks. He perfected turf play. The game, defensively, of middle infielders evolved through him. And while he was no Ripken or Rodriguez at the plate he still had a tremendous influence on those players defensively.

There is also the matter of the pitching staffs Ozzie played behind. Every one of those pitchers was a better pitcher because Ozzie Smith was out there. That's a lot of pitchers. That's a lot of balls that didn't get through. That's a lot of doubleplays he started.

You see I have a theory about exceptional defenders in baseball, specifically middle infielders. The great ones are just as much a part of the pitching staff as they are a part of the regular lineup. It's very difficult to quantify it through statistics, but great defensive teams usually win whether they hit well or not. In his era Ozzie Smith helped keep runners off the bases and runs off the board better than any other player at any other position. He never got 200 hits in a season, but he may have prevented almost that many. And preventing them in the field is just as good as getting them at the plate.

Every one of those pitchers was a better pitcher because Ozzie Smith was out there. That's a lot of pitchers. That's a lot of balls that didn't get through. That's a lot of doubleplays he started.

Whoa, horsie. Let's have some perspective on that one, bearing in mind that it does not cheapen the argument on behalf of The Wiz: the Cardinal pitching staffs of Ozzie Smith's years, especially those managed by Whitey Herzog, were predominantly ground ball pitchers in the first place, and you could have put Eddie Gaedel at shortstop on a Whitey Herzog team (and there are those who argue that, while the White Rat managed the Royals in the 1970s, they damn near did have Eddie Gaedel out there, only his name was Freddie Patek - who was an above average player most of his career, if not quite a Hall of Famer) and gotten him a host of double-play balls. Herzog prized pitchers who got ground balls or line drives over pitchers who were customarily flyball pitchers; it was the exception rather than a rule for a Royals or Cardinals staff under his jurisdiction to include more than one predominantly flyball pitcher.

This doesn't diminish Ozzie Smith by any means; the man remains the greatest defencive shortstop of them all and he has earned his ticket to Cooperstown. And he did start a lot of double plays - but so did Tommy Herr, his second baseman for most of his best seasons in St. Louis. It came with the territory. But a) starting double plays is at best half an infielder's job, with cutting off base hits the other and perhaps more critical half of it (I think they call this range factor, though it might be interesting as well, assuming anyone has the patience to do it, to measure the ratio of an infielder's assists to base hits allowed, not to mention the ratio of his double plays begun against baserunners he failed directly to keep off base); and, b) anyone who says the Cardinal pitchers were better pitchers because of Ozzie Smith behind him (as opposed to saying they were better pitchers with him behind them, which is quite different) simply did not really watch the Cardinals in the prime of Smith's years with the team, and especially when Herzog was their manager.