Originally posted on 02/20/2014:

Jeter is half black, black dad, white mom.
So, short answer, no.

1) I want a quarter for every "Best SS of all time tread" that pops up on the WWW this baseball season.

2) Honus Wagner is the greatest SS of all time. /end thread
Since this is an 'all time' thread, and not a 'modern era' thread, the list of GOAT SS's starts with Honus Wagener.

3) Just on fielding percentage alone, (range and zone factors included, not any of the other SABR stats included, just good old fielding percentage, you know, putouts+assists divided by putouts+ assists+errors, Tulo is the best of all time (750 or more games played at short stop) Look it up if you, Tulo is #1, Jeter is around #30

Now, if you want to used the space age WAR formula, Ozzie Smith is the greatest ever defensive shortstop in the defensive WAR category, and #2 Mark Belanger, who old time Oriole and baseball fans will tell you was one slick fielding, no hit shortstop, but over the course of his career, Ozzie was was four wins better than number two all time Belanger, and had a 43 WAR(P) rating, not just best of all time a shortstop, best defensive (dWAR) rating of any player ever that played baseball at any position, Ozzie was just that great.

Now Honus Wagner was a great fielding shortstop, not quite Ozzie great, but great.
Wagner hit .329 lifetime, in the deadest of dead ball eras. He stole 722 bases, hit 101 homers in an era when prorated to this era is equal to 350 lifetime homers, give or take 25.
Wagner won eight batting titles.

Honus Wagner was the greatest shortstop ever. Not debatable

Love him or hate him, A-Rod was a good shortstop, with tainted steroid laden offensive numbers.

Most underrated shortstop was Arky Vaughn.

We don't even have to go into detail how great Ernie Banks was? Do we?

Robin Yount is a Hall of Famer, that played excellent shortstop, played short his first 11 years in the majors before moving to the OF. Yount was a gold glove winner at shortstop, Yount won multiple silver sluggers as a shortstop, Yount won a MVP award as a shotstop. Yount is a top five shortstop of all time.

Luke Appling was a great shortstop

And then there is Cal.
Take away the famous streak, is he an all time great?
That is and always will be a great debate.
But Cal needs to be mentioned here.

Aparicio was a slick shortstop and underrated.

What was Jeter?
Jeter is/was an all time ten great shortstop, top five depending on who you talk to, what criteria you use when you compile all time GOAT lists, etc. I got Jeter top four.

These are facts, tangibles if you will, data that can not be disputed.
Jeter has over 3300 hits, Jeter is a lifetime .312 hitter. Jeter owns a lifetime OBA of .381, which is remarkable.
Jeter has 256 homeruns, and 348 stolen bases. Jeter has scored over 100 runs a season 13 times.

Mutliple gold glove award winner, not because he had great range, he did not, he had limited range, but, very big but, those gold gloves were awarded to him based on never making a mistake in the field, for making every play to him cleanly, for being in the right place at the right time, gold glove is not about how much ground you cover, or how slick you are, it's for doing everything you are supposed to do better than everyone else fielding their position. Sure there are other shortstops, a lot more that could get to balls that Jeter could not in the hole or over the second base bag, but that position isn't all about range, it's more about what you do with the ball once you get the ball.
Jeter rarely threw a ball over the firstbaseman's head, Jeter rarely threw to first that had to be scooped out of the dirt.
What about turning the double play? Jeter rarely botched a double play ball, ask Cano how great Jeter was on double plays.

And like Ozzie Smith was clutch.

And most importantly, Jeter has all those rings, almost every piece of hardware a baseball player could have.