After his age 35 season his OPS numbers were 710, 743, 791, 542, 617. League average is around 720. So he had one year barely above league average, one year that was good but short of all star level play, and three years below the league average. So no one would have used him as a full time DH with those numbers either. He just wasn't a good enough hitter.

Over that time he amassed 718 hits. If he retired when he was no longer good enough to play either offensively or defensively then he would have ended his career at 2747. A good total. But by no means a sure fire hall of famer.

And that is not even going in to the entire discussion about the fact that he pouted his way in to playing SS when AROD arrived. A Rod was leaps and bounds better at SS than Jeter ever was. Jeter should have moved to 3B. And if Jeter moved to 3B and was the exact same hitter he was, he would be considered weak as hell.

He was a good player. Yes. But he is not anywhere close to being considered an all time great. In my opinion, and stats back this up, he is basically the same player as Craig Biggio. Except Biggio was a standout defensively as a catcher, a centerfielder, and a 2B while putting up those numbers. Jeter is not even a top 50 all time player.