Should Johnny Damon be in the Hall Of Fame?

Babe Ruth was, arguably, the greatest hitter ever to play the game. Rogers Hornsby came up 70 hits short of 3,000 but posted a career BA of .358 while Al Simmons was 73 hits shy of 3,000 but posted a .334 career BA.
George Brett, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor all had 3,000+ hits, Lou Gehrig had a .340 career average plus the incredible consecutive games streak while Stan Musial and Willie Mays were elite players of their time and legends of the game.
That leaves Goose Goslin as the player who best matches Damon and Damon's numbers pale when compared to the Goose. Goslin averaged 18 homers, 114 RBI and .316 per season (over 18 years) while Damon has averaged 15/75/.287 over his 17 seasons. Damon holds a decisive edge in stolen bases but Goslin has a strong lead in slugging percentage (.500 to .436) and OPS (.887 to .790).
Goslin averaged 67 walks per season against 41 strikeouts but Damon walks 66 times a season and strikes out 81. Goslin was clearly the better hitter of the two and while Damon's accomplishment is impressive I'm not sure his overall numbers justify induction into the HOF.
That said, lesser players than Damon have been inducted into the Hall since it became nothing more than a popularity contest, so he has a shot. However, he could end the debate if he can hang on for a couple more years and reach the 3,000 hit threshold. That would guarantee him a spot in the Hall.

At the moment I would put him in the "borderline HOFer" group. The fact that he has two rings helps a lot. 3000 hits will do it I think. The question is, will he be able to play long enough to reach 3000. I hope so because I've always liked him as a player even though he never had much of an arm in the outfield.

Babe Ruth was, arguably, the greatest hitter ever to play the game. Rogers Hornsby came up 70 hits short of 3,000 but posted a career BA of .358 while Al Simmons was 73 hits shy of 3,000 but posted a .334 career BA.
George Brett, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor all had 3,000+ hits, Lou Gehrig had a .340 career average plus the incredible consecutive games streak while Stan Musial and Willie Mays were elite players of their time and legends of the game.
That leaves Goose Goslin as the player who best matches Damon and Damon's numbers pale when compared to the Goose. Goslin averaged 18 homers, 114 RBI and .316 per season (over 18 years) while Damon has averaged 15/75/.287 over his 17 seasons. Damon holds a decisive edge in stolen bases but Goslin has a strong lead in slugging percentage (.500 to .436) and OPS (.887 to .790).
Goslin averaged 67 walks per season against 41 strikeouts but Damon walks 66 times a season and strikes out 81. Goslin was clearly the better hitter of the two and while Damon's accomplishment is impressive I'm not sure his overall numbers justify induction into the HOF.
That said, lesser players than Damon have been inducted into the Hall since it became nothing more than a popularity contest, so he has a shot. However, he could end the debate if he can hang on for a couple more years and reach the 3,000 hit threshold. That would guarantee him a spot in the Hall.

You never said who were the other 10

George Brett
Lou Gehrig
Goose Goslin
Rogers Hornsby
Willie Mays
Paul Molitor
Stan Musial
Babe Ruth
Al Simmons
Robin Yount

All the guys above dominated the game with batting titles, HR titles, MVP awards, Gold Gloves, etc and Damon never got any of those. The highest he was in the MVP voting was 13th.

Damon deserves credit for being consistent throughout 17 years, but he never was a dominant player. His best season was 2000 which was great, but he was only 19th in the MVP voting.

Another issue is that Damon is slightly above all those milestones. For example Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, and Lou Gehrig had twice or thrice more than 200 HR. Robin Yount won two MVP awards. Paul Molitor had 3300+ hits. George Brett won batting titles in 3 different decades.

With 3000 hits he should make it, but his best years are clearly behind him.

there are players who hang around long enough to be a compiler of what look like impressive numbers.There are also players that can have different personal statistics arranged for them to make them appear to be a better player than they are and to try to compare them to some truly great players.Johnny Damon is that player here.The only things he has ever led the league in was stolen bases(2000) and triples(2002),each one time.He also never drove in 100 runs in any season.
Of course let's also keep in mind the Damon is an average fielder with a weak arm.He has never won a Gold Glove in his 17 years.
Your case for Damon would be an easier one to make if he had ever won any personal awards other than the two I listed above.Had he been a perennial all-star,won a few batting titles or an MVP award,your argument would have some validity.But as it stands,no.Johnny Damon is not a Hall Of fame player.

Damon is a good player, and a fan favorite. He always plays up to the crowd, and likes to get them energized when he takes the field. However, I still don't think he's HOF material. Not knocking the guy, just being honest in my opinion. He is a great guy with the fans though, and was always fun to watch when he played in NY.

Maybe the "magic number" of 3000 might be enough to sway some people into voting for him, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Those numbers have been accumulated over 17 yrs, they are good, but not HOF worthy.

Sure 3000 hits would do it...but Damon would need about 3 yrs to get 334 hits. He might not get a contract and if contracted, he might not stay in the lineup.

He has the advantage of support from 2 major organisations, which would be a big help.

My answer is no. Borderline will not be good enough in this case.

The man never lead the league in anything, and was only twice an All-Star.

He's accumulated some good stats, and has shown surprising consistency over 17 years, but he's never been a "dominant" player. This guy is alot like Kenny Lofton or Steve Finley. Very good, a part of some championship teams, but not a force unto himself.

He'll be borderline Hall of Famer if he retires at the end of the year. (Probably last ballot if he is lucky) Give him 3 more years and reach at least 3,000 hits and he should be in it.

Yes, I'll hope he'll be in the Hall of Fame soon.