Yankees 2B Joe Gordon elected by Veterans to HOF

December 8, 2008

By DailySkew

Lou Gehrig with Joe Gordon

Joe Gordon, who passed away years ago, was a player who had been slighted for decades, and now will finally be enshrined post-posthumously to the Hall of Fame. The DailySkew had promoted Gordon for years with our Joe Gordon Hall of Fame T-Shirt. It worked for Goose Gossage, too.

Gordon played for the late 1930’s and 1940’s Yankees teams, so was overshadowed by the bigger names. But don’t think Gordon was a role player- from 1938-1949 he was in the Top 25 MVP voting or was an All-Star. Five times he was in the Top 10, and won the award in 1942, beating out Ted Williams’ Triple Crown Year. If you think Tony Lazzeri, Willie Randolph, and Robinson Cano were great Yankee second-baseman, there are many stats and rankings that show that Gordon was better.

He was known for his bat, and for being a great double-play combination with Scooter- Phil Rizzuto.

Gordon missed 2 seasons in his prime because he served in World War II. Gordon’s short career (only 11 seasons), and post-retirement obscurity made him the forgotten Yankee of that era (it should be noted he had great seasons with the Indians, too). But he has 5 rings, and was the last 2B in the American League to win an MVP until Dustin Pedroia did it this year.

Justice was served today. I thank the Veteran’s Commitee (all living Hall of Fame members) for putting him in.

It’s true other older players were snubbed today, and the Internet forums are crying about that. But today, I celebrate Joe Gordon.