The committee considers the desires of the inductee, but they don’t always give them their wish. They weigh a lot of things, including who a player is most represented by, where was he most loved, highest profile, at his best, etc. Also, in the case of guys like Gary Carter, Dave Winfield and Nolan Ryan, they consider if one of the teams he most represents has a Hall of Famer or not yet. Carter went in as an Expo because the Expos weren’t represented.

Pudge will almost inarguably be a Ranger. If Raffy ever gets in, he’ll be a Ranger too, I’m sure. After that, we have to wait for some of these young guys to be Hall of Fame caliber.

Here’s a question: A lot of very smart people make a great argument that Kevin Brown should be in Cooperstown. Ignoring the argument about whether he should be in or not because it’s too long for this space, if he DID get in, which cap would he wear (if any)?

Pudge is not a long-term catching solution for NYY, which is what they need. They’ll be back after Salty/Laird in the offseason.

and not wanting to give up diddly.

One of these guys had 976 equivilent runs over 1,400 games as a Ranger. The other had 761 over 1,479.

The latter was an ELITE catcher, however, while the former was a below-average corner outfielder.

Both were primarily Rangers, and one is rightfully going to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, the other is rightfully never getting close.

but not best ranger career

Not the best Ranger ever.

Limit a player’s career to the Rangers and judge players the same way you would their careers. A-Rod’s got a three year career, and Pudge is probably the best by quite a bit.