Is Johnny Damon a Hall of Famer?

Johnny Damon just hit his 500th double on Saturday night to put him in an exclusive club. He is now one of 11 players to have 500 doubles, 100 triples, 200 home runs and 2,500 hits. The other 10 players are all in the Hall of Fame. Does this automatically make Johnny Damon a Hall of Famer? To set up a bunch of arbitrary markers like this one to make up a Hall of Fame argument is in itself a fallacy according to Bill James’ Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame, a book that examines the Hall of Fame and the many arguments for getting players enshrined. Just because a player is in a group of only Hall of Famers does not automatically make them a Hall of Famer. The key is to find out whether Damon is really similar to all those players or whether he is actually more similar to a group of non-Hall of Famers. Check out Rays Colored Glasses where I examine the case more closely.