Alomar is Already in the Hall of Very Good; Will He Make the Hall of Fame?

He won't be an Orioles Hall of Famer; more likely a Blue Jays or Indians Hall of Famer. Or perhaps, given how many future nominees would benefit from such a thing, Cooperstown will create a new category for vagabond players, who won't be required to choose just one team's hat for their plaque.

Whatever the case, Roberto Alomar will be in the Hall of Fame regardless of which team claims him as its own. Maybe not first ballot - given, um, that incident I'm sure you remember - but he'll be there.

The Hall of Very Good sizes up Alomar's candidacy.

Alomar went to twelve straight All-Star games (nine as a starter), compared to Ryno’s ten. Incidentally, his ten Gold Gloves over a span of eleven years is the most ever by a second baseman.

His .984 fielding percentage is a hair behind Sandberg’s .989.

His 2724 hits (and career .300 batting average) is the most by any every day second baseman since Charlie Gehringer’s 2839. Gehringer was inducted in 1949. FYI…Sandberg finished with 2386 and a .285 batting average.

Even, Alomar’s OPS+ (a stat that I am not that high on, but some people are) of 116 is smack dab in the middle of the pack when you look at those already enshrined. For the record, Sandberg’s was 114. Joe Morgan...a surprising 132.

Alomar even slugged .347 in back to back World Series victories for the Blue Jays
And yes, for every “case for”…there is a case against:

...

Alomar was the type of player that, because he was so damn solid for nearly 17 seasons…people forget that he was a hitting machine. From his second year in the majors (1989) until 2001, Alomar hit under .295 only twice. He even had an impressive run of nine out of ten years where he hit .300 or better.

Open your doors for Robbie, Cooperstown, I’ll be watching...all the while knowing that the best second baseman I ever saw play is getting his just desserts.

Alomar seemed to dog it toward the end of his three-season stay in Baltimore when his numbers dropped accordingly. The fact that those numbers rebounded enough for him to finish third in the MVP voting in 1999 after returning to Cleveland only added to existing accusations that he played hard only when he really wanted to. Nevertheless, when Alomar gave it his all there weren't many who were better at the position.

I first saw Alomar play in Toronto, where he dominated the Blue Jays game I attended. It's not very often you walk away from a baseball game most impressed by a second baseman, but that's exactly what happened that night.

I went to Toronto to see the SkyDome; I left there talking about Robbie Alomar, a future Hall of Famer.