Dusty on Graig Nettles and the Hall of Fame

By Dusty Writes

September 16, 2026

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Did Graig Nettles have a Hall of Fame career?

I agree with both opinions, those who say Nettles has not accomplished enough to be in the HOF and those who say Nettles should be voted into the HOF.

If we compare Nettles to 3rd basemen such as Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Wade Boggs, George Brett and some others, then Nettles is not at their level. Some fans want a limited HOF in which only the truly elite players should be voted in. These fans want a smaller HOF.

Other fans want a larger HOF and believe third basemen who are not at the level of Schmidt, Boggs, Brett, and Mathews should also get voted into Cooperstown.

If we want to expand the HOF to include not just the all-time greats, then Graig Nettles may very well have the credentials to make the HOF.

Those who oppose Nettles getting into the HOF point out his low career batting average of .248. Nettles played 22 seasons. The first 3 seasons of his career and the last 2 seasons of his career, he didn't play very much. If we focus on his 17 seasons in which he was a regular player, during those 17 seasons he had a batting average of .250.   The difference between a .250 batting average and .248 is virtually nothing. However, a .250 batting average seems or appears much better than a .248 average, just like a .300 batting average seems much more impressive than a .297 batting average. A pitcher who won a career total of 200 games seemed to have a more impressive win total than a pitcher winning 196 games, and etc.

For many fans, a .250 batting average, was sort of like an "evaluation point" because it was easy math. We know 1 hit in 4 at bats is exactly a .250 batting average. Many fans have believed throughout baseball history than a .250 batting average was " average" and anything less than .250 signified a " below average" batting average , and anything higher than .250 was a "higher than average" batting average.

This was a poor way to evaluate a batter, but fans have used this as a criteria. Some say Nettles only won two Gold Gloves. But many fans and many statistics say Nettles should have won more Gold Gloves than the two he won. 

In a Cooperstowncred.com article in 2019, this article presented these stats by author Chris Bodig:

In American League leaders in defensive WAR for third baseman, in 1971, Nettles had  30.2 score, surpassing runner up Brooks Robinson with 20.5. In 1973, Nettles had once again the highest score among third basemen with 19.5, surpassing runner up Brooks Robinson. In 1976 Nettles far surpassed runner up Buddy Bell 26.6 to 7.6. Nettles did not win the Gold Glove in any of those 3 seasons.

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he same article said from 1967 - 1988 ( The years of Nettles' career), Nettles was the 3rd best defensive third baseman, trailing only Brooks Robinson and Buddy Bell.  From 1957-1998, Nettles was the 4th best defensive third baseman, trailing only Brooks Robinson, Buddy Bell and Clete Boyer. Nettles was not only one of the best defensive 3rd baseman of his time, he was also one of the best defensive third basemen of all-time.

This article said Preston Gomez, a Dodgers third base coach said about Nettles, " I say he's as good as Brooks Robinson." Brooks Robinson said in 1989 article about Nettles defensive skill. " If you watched him play day in and day out you could make a case for him as the greatest fielding third baseman ever."

According to Statmuse, Nettles had the most hits (1,441), the most runs scored (773), the most home runs (252) , the most rbi (831), the most Total Bases (2,441), the most extra base hits

(480) of any third baseman in MLB from 1970-1979. 

Nettles was also durable as he played in 150 or more games in a season in 9 seasons and had 10 straight seasons of playing 145 games or more from 1970-1979.

Nettles consistency was amazing as he had 17 straight seasons of 15 or more home runs. What makes this accomplishment all the more impressive was that he had a late start to his career, as he did not become a regular third baseman until his age 26 season. He had 16 home runs in only 354 at bats at age 42 for the San Diego Padres!

Critics of Nettles being voted into the HOF, also point out his "poor" postseason statistics, such as his career postseason . 225 batting average. Sometimes career postseason stats can be misleading because a few very poor postseasons can decrease the overall averages tremendously.

According to Baseball Reference, Nettles played in 13 post seasons series in 7 different seasons. Nettles did have some very poor postseasons such as 3 hits in 20 at bats, for a .150 batting average in the 1977 ALCS and 4 hits in 21 at bats in that season's World Series.

But, Nettles did have some good postseasons, and also some average postseasons. He won the 1981 ALCS MVP with 6 hits in 12 at bats for a .500 batting average with 9 rbi in only 3 games. In that seasons' World Series he had a .400 batting average, with 4 hits in 10 at bats. 

These are Nettles batting averages in all 13 post season series starting in 1969: 1.000, .235, .250,.150,,190, .333, .160, .167, .059, .500, .400, .143, .250. 

He had 4 very good postseason batting averages in 13 series.  He had 2 mediocre post season batting averages. He had 6 very poor post seasons batting averages.

There were two postseasons in which he was better than his stats would indicate. One postseason in a 5-game series, though he batted only .235, he had 2 homers and 4 rbi, so that wasn't a poor postseason necessarily. Of course, his remarkable defensive play in Game 3 of the World Series vs the Dodgers in 1978 turned the series around, although he batted only .160 in that series. 

Overall, in 53 post seasons and 182 at bats, he had 5 homers, 27 rbi, and a . 225 batting average. Since 53 games is almost exactly one third of a regular season, if we triple Nettles postseason stats, we get a 162-game season of 15 homers, 81 rbi, and a . 225 batting average.

His career postseason power numbers (home runs and rbi) and his fantastic defensive skills indicate he was not nearly as poor a postseason player as his critics say. Nettles did have some good post season series. 

Interestingly, from 1970-1979, the World Series was marked by legendary performances, many by HOF players. Starting with the 1970 in which Brooks Robinson had a legendary defensive series and had a tremendous offensive series as well, the series of 1970 was known as the Brooks Robinson World Series, the next season it was called the Roberto Clemente World Series, followed by Gene Tenace then Bucky Dent and Brian Doyle. Although defense is very underrated, could we say it was also the Bucky Dent, Brian Doyle and Graig Nettles World Series? To close out the decade the Willie Stargell had a great World Series. Every one of those world series players just mentioned had good batting stats in those world series except Nettles, but he played a big part in that championship vs the Dodgers, even if he didn't do much offensively.

When Nettles home run and rbi stats are compared to every A.L. third baseman from 1970-1979, it is incredible how dominant Nettles was in comparison to his home run total compared to other third basemen in the league. According to Baseball Refence, from 1970-1979, Nettles averaged 25 homers and 83 rbi per season. All other A.L. third baseman from 1970-1979 averaged 14 homers and 70 rbi. Nettles had almost twice as many homers as the average third baseman during this 10-year period and he was one of the best if not the best defensive third baseman of that period.

Many of the third basemen in the A.L. from 1970-1979 had very low power numbers as far as home runs and rbi. According to Baseball Reference, the Yankees third basemen in 1970 hit only 5 homers. The Tigers third baseman hit 10 homers. Nettles in 1970 had 26 homers.

In 1971, Nettles had 28 homers, the Yankees third basemen had 4, The Senators 9, the Brewers 10. In 1972, Nettles had 17 homers, the Brewers third basemen had 4 homers, The Yankees, Rangers, Angels all had 6 homers from their third basemen.

Nettles had 390 home runs (top 10 all-time) for third basemen, he is top 15 in career rbi for third basemen.

The Baseball Egg ranks Nettles as the 15th best third baseman of all time. The Ranker rates Nettles as 14th best, other websites rank Nettles in the 12th best to 15th best third basemen of all time.

If Nettles is one of the best 15 third basemen of all-time, it would seem he is a Hall of Fame player. If we were to take the 15th best player in just about any sport, let's say the 15th best quarterback. running back in NFL history, that player is probably a HOF player. The 15th best center, guard or forward in NBA history is probably a HOF player. 

Nettles missed out on the 400 career home run milestone, as he had 390 homers. He missed a total of about 60-65 games due to 2  shorter seasons due to strikes. In 1972  teams missed about 7 or 8 games, played only about a 155-game season. In 1981, the season was only about 108 games. If Nettles had played these 60-65 missing games, he may have had 10 more career homers, and reaching the 400- career home run milestone. 

Nettles should have won more Gold Gloves, and possibly missed out on 400 career home runs due to those 2 seasons of less than 162 games. 400 home runs and 3 or 4, possibly 5 Gold Gloves seems much more impressive than his actual 390 homers, 2 Gold Gloves. Also his .250 batting average in 17 seasons as a regular seems better than a .248 career average.