I think of these as explanatory ways to describe the idea that Lou Whitaker doesn’t fulfill the “Fame” requirement to get into the Hall of Fame. Neither do Grich or Buehrle or Stieb or probably anyone else you could have added who had great careers based on performance but are not in the Hall. They have no MVPs, or sexy season or career stats, or big games attributed to them, and if they have rings, then there are teammates who get more credit for the team winning it all that year instead of them.
But Jack Morris does have big games, and rings attributed mainly to him, so despite his lackluster overall numbers he’s in, even though he is far more suited more for the Hall of Famous than the Hall of Fame.