...And Paul Responds (Part 2)
- Paul Semendinger
- Mar 19
- 3 min read
by Paul Semedinger
March 19, 2026
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Our contributor, Dusty Writes, brought up a host of great questions on Tuesday. Today I plan to share my thoughts and responses to some of Dusty's questions and points. We hope our readers join in the fun in the comments as well...
Dusty's original comments are in bold.
If you were to choose which players should be in the Hall of Fame, would you have less players in the HOF than currently in the HOF?
This is a tough question in some ways, and easy in others. In short, there are players who belong in the Hall of Fame who are not in there.
I also do not believe in taking players out of the Hall of Fame as some suggest. Every player in the Hall of Fame was very very good in his own way. Some were better, much better, than others, but the players enshrined each certainly have a case (although some of those cases aren't very strong). Still, since they are in, they should stay in.
With that being said, one would have to call me a big Hall of Fame guy because, as noted, I believe there are a host of players who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame who are not there. Among Yankees, these include Graig Nettles, Thurman Munson, and Tommy John. Strong cases can be made for others as well.
And then, there are retired numbers and Monument Park... How have the Yankees failed to retire number 11 for Lefty Gomez (and others)?
I agree. The Yankees' process for honoring players with retired numbers and with inclusion in Monument Park is flawed, arbitrary, and unfair, at best. In some ways it is downright cruel. Long time Yankees greats sit on the outside, grow older, and observe the team they played for, and starred for, honoring younger players who were not their equals. It's wrong.
The Yankees have never articulated a criteria for inclusion in Monument Park. Their process is completely arbitrary.
For example, the Yankees had three big pitchers for the 1949-53 World Championship squads. Only one of the three is in Monument Park. Allie Reynolds is in Monument Park. Vic Raschi and Ed Lopat are not.
Hank Bauer was a better player than Paul O'Neill and yet O'Neill's number is in Monument Park and he had his number retired.
The Yankees have also never honored a third baseman in Monument Park. Graig Nettles belongs there. Of that there is no question. He was also a captain on the Yankees.
Roy White was a top player who has served the franchise in many ways, and was a better Yankee than a host of players in Monument Park, but he has never been honored there.
Dave Winfield also.
It's time for the Yankees to recognize these players.
In regard to retired numbers, number 8 has been retired for two players... the Yankees should do the same for uniform number 6 (Roy White and Joe Torre) and number 9 (Roger Maris, Hank Bauer, and Graig Nettles) among others.
As far as statues go, it is amazing the Yankees do not have statues of their great players as far as I know (except of Berra and Larsen inside the stadium). Other teams, with nowhere near the success of the Yankees have great statues of their players outside near their stadiums.
Again, I agree. I have always felt that there should be a Babe Ruth statue in Babe Ruth Plaza outside the stadium. That should be the first of many.
The Yankees " museum" inside the stadium is nowhere close to being as comprehensive as other teams.
The Yankees "museum," feels like an afterthought that is tucked away in a corner. When one sees the way other teams honor their history, the Yankees' approach is severely lacking.
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(Shameless Plug - I discuss Monument Park and such in two of my Yankees books: The Greatest New York Yankees By Uniform Number and The Least Among Them. Also, Roy White's case for inclusion in Monument Park is made in From Compton to the Bronx.)
Too many Yankees numbers retired; There is so much Yankees history, that the Museum needs to be bigger, and a much better layout, plus the Yankees have Monument Park to supplement;
They've started to water down the Hall of Fame. Now being 57, I've seen a whole bunch of players over the last 50 years, and there are guys in there that have no business being there just from what I've seen;
I don't need to see some sort of statues, otherwise where do you draw the line? And I like so much better the old retired veterans coming back to be guest instructors in Spring Training.
And no one has yet to credibly discredit my argument, that if Koufax is…
Monument Park is the kind of fluff the Yankees project to idolized their "favorite players" from the past. They would should consider rotating the monuments by decades, so fans get the chance to honor their favorites. The Yankees have a rich history and rotating monuments by decade is worthy IMHO!
Mostly good takes from you and Dusty.
I do challenge that Bauer was a better player than O’Neill. Not according to the numbers, anyway.
Winfield will never be honored as long as a Steinbrenner owns the team. No explaination necessary.
I think the Hall of Fame should sort enshrined members by making one section reserved for the best of the best. So basically there would be the general area and then a very special area that would be reserved only for the game's all time greatest players.
It might also be cool to have an area reserved for players who were able to dominate for short time spans. These types of players may have single season records, or perhaps they had several seasons worth of elite performance but they never sustained it or they might have had their career cut short by injury or death. In this way a player that doesn't achieve various milestones based on longevity could stil…
I've said before that I'd like to see retention votes for the Hall of Fame. It could be every 20 or 30 or even 40 years, and a player would need at least 50% to be retained. It would be a way of getting rid of unqualified players like Frankie Frisch's cronies and other embarrassing mistakes.