Derek Jeter Isn't The Greatest Player Ever
By far.
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His WAR is something like 30 more than Scooter's, and he played in a thousand more games. Definitely a great player, but just barely in the top ten of shortstops all-time, depending on how you measure it.
In fairness to Rizzuto, though, he did lose what would have probably been his three best career years due to the war. But that wouldn't have been enough to put him over Jeter.
Generally, though, I prefer a shortstop who can actually, uh, play shortstop.
-- Mal
For one thing, he was a center fielder...
But I can't name my top 10 shortstops without including Wagner and people who played before I was born. Obviously if you want to limit the discussion only to guys who played since WWII, Jeter's rank goes up. As for the Fifties, I think you forget Ernie Banks, who was at his best as a hitter when he played shortstop (by far), and was a better fielder than Jeter if dWAR is anything to go by. Jeter could never have moved to 1B because he lacked 1B power. And what about A-Rod? He was a decent shortstop before he joined the Yankees. No way Jeter was going to move to third, so Rodriguez got it by default.
Robin Yount? About interchangeable with Jeter as a hitter and a better fielder. Alan Trammell? Not quite as good a hitter, but a better fielder. Ozzie Smith? Best-fielding shortstop ever, and he was a useful hitter. Hell, I'll even throw in J-Roll, since I live in Philly, although he hasn't the longevity or the overall offense of Jeter. And Rollins actually deserved two of his Gold Gloves. Troy Tulowitzki needs to play for 10 more years before he can be part of this discussion, but dang, the kid is good. What is it, three years he's led in range and fielding percentage with an adjusted OPS ten higher than Jeter's? I hope he has a good, long career.
You already mentioned Ripken and Larkin, so I'll just say I think they were both better than Jeter, taking into account that they were both pretty good shortstops and good hitters.
Incidentally, I grew up watching Roberto Clemente, and I don't think he was better than Mays, either.
-- Mal
But it is only part of the package. Rollins hit only .243 this year and Jeter hit .256, but Rollins created more runs. I don't think he's HoF caliber either, unless you define HoF caliber as "better than the worst player currently in the HoF," in which case he's in. And he did win the MVP in 07, lol.
As for Ripken, he led or was second in range in 3 years and was in the top 4 of the league 7 times. Jeter, once. Given that Ripken's fielding percentage is also considerably better than Jeter's, it is easy to say who had the better glove. One stat I'm sure Cal wishes he didn't have is that he leads all players all-time in number of times he hit into the DP. But interestingly, Jeter is pretty bad on that stat too: Ripken hit into an average of 19 DPs/season, Jeter 17.
The question of Smith vs Jeter is interesting, because it raises the issue of whether the greatest fielder at his position is better than a player who hit much better. (Can you say Bill Mazeroski?) Nobody has quite figured out yet a truly satisfactory way of computing the importance of fielding compared to hitting. Currently by the Total WAR computation, Smith edges Jeter, 76.5-71.7. If you just consider hitting, though, it isn't even close: Jeter's oWAR is a very respectable 95.3, and Smith is half that at 47.8. But if being the best fielder is enough by itself to get into the HoF, then why didn't Belanger make it? He even has a better lifetime range than Ozzie. Of course, as a hitter he wasn't much better than Jim Palmer. I don't think there's much question that Ozzie is a worthy HoFer, but I doubt anyone would seriously suggest Belanger.
Trammell wasn't as good as Jeter, but it's closer than you might think. His defense brings his total WAR up to 70.4. As a hitter, he didn't shine in any of the glamor stats, but he did hit .300 or better in 7 of his 20 years, which is pretty darn good for a shortstop. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten more HoF love. He's better than most of the shortstops in there.
Most shortstops of HoF caliber have their ratings significantly boosted by their defense. Jeter is a HoFer strictly in terms of his offense. So any comparision with shortstops based solely on hitting (excepting guys like Wagner and Vaughan) is going to find Jeter near the top. But Jeter's defense actually subtracts from his total value. It's really kind of amazing that he was a SS at all. The fact that he played 20 years solely at that position suggests that there is still a lot we need to figure out about defensive value.
-- Mal
This is over-the-top 
