'Stonewall' Jackson

[penneyAA]

What is the compelling evidence that merited Stonewall Jackson's induction.He seemed to have a pretty solid career but nothing seems to stand out and scream HoFer.Was it his defense?Was he the best defensive shortstop of his day?He did hit .291 for his career, an overvalued stat, especially considering the era he did it in.Entire teams were regularly hitting that in the early days of the live ball,when Jackson was active.His other offensive numbers seem middle of the road for a middle of the order guy.He did spend his entire career with one club, and players identified with one team have always seemed to be overvalued compared to guys that bounce around.Maybe justifiably.He played on 2 world series teams early in his career and 2 more late in his career with the Giants,winning one.Collectivly, he hit .149 in the post season.
George Burns,traded from the Giants just before Jackson arrived, seems more qualified.Dick Bartell,who forced Jackson's move to 3rd base late in his career may have been just as good.Hal Chase,although a 1st baseman, had similar numbers.If you throw out the negatives with Chase is he a HoFer?
I certainly have nothing against Jackson being in, there's worse, and he did wait a lifetime to be enshrined.His induction should bold well for a player like Trammell.Ken Boyer for that matter.Just looking for some insight.

[Chickazoola]

He played for the Giants, was a shortstop and had superficially impressive numbers.

He got in because the Hall didn't have enough shortstops, and he had friends on the veteran's commitee.

Trammell is significantly better than Jackson. Better numbers in a tougher hitting era, and a longer career.

Chase is criminally overrated. The only case for him is the anecdotal evidence that he was a phenomenal fielder. The stats do not bear this out for obvious reasons, but as a hitter he wasn't all that great. He had minimal power, didn't really hit for a tremendous average, didn't draw walks, and didn't steal bases. It can be argued that if he gave 100% all the time maybe his numbers would be significantly better, but that's a pretty big leap to make. He has a batting title and a Federal League homerun crown in his career. Maybe he could have won multiple batting titles, but he won his in a weak post-Wagner National League, whereas he spent his prime playing against Cobb, Jackson et al in the AL, and if he had the talent to hit .370 and somehow managed to plod along at .290 then that makes him an even bigger crook than I could have imagined.

[HDH]

Travis Jackson was an exceptional defensive SS in the 1920s. He had to be to replace one of the rangiest SS ever in Dave Bancroft. He had over 500 assists 3 times (and 496 another) proving his high range. Offensively, he was pretty well balanced. Especially for a bottom-of-the-order player, he could score runs and drive them in effectively something rare for a SS. However, as far as HOF election goes, I don't agree with his election. Except for two years later on, his career was over by the age of 27 due to severe knee injuries. He probably would get my vote had he continued another 5 years but, his career was too short.