I agree with you that he wasnt one of the greatest hitters ever and that he wasnt the best player on his own team but I still respect him as a player.
He won 3 gold gloves (I believe) and also has played 6 or 7 different positions throughout his career... He moved from 2B to 3B to make way for Joe Morgan, etc. He has done this several time and this show he is a teamer and wants to win.
He played 162 games a year just about every year of his career and having him on the field every single day also adds some value to him.
He also won 5 world series (3 with reds, 2 with phillies) and winning is what matters to me above everything else. You have tons of great players that put up tons of HRs, hit for well over .300 and dont have a WS to show for it. Im sure Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr and a few others had just alittle to do with the reds success but still, he was the guy who was always on for them to drive him in.
As for todays players I agree that Eckstein is the one of the best players in the league base on hustle. He plays great defense, runs out every ground ball, rarely strikes out, comes up with clutch hits everywhere. Ryan Freel is one of my personal favorite reds because he does alot of the same stuff as Eckstein does + He can play 3-4 different positions. Last year he had the webgem of the year at 2 different positions (CF and 3B).
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