Isn't Jackie Robinson overrated?

Question

...not for his "breaking of the race barrier", but his stats arent really those of a superstar...

I mean, LIFETIME:137 HRs, 197 SBs,
only ONE season with over 100 RBI...
sure a .311 Life AVG, but.... What do you think?

Answer 1

Ok its not about the stats....
He was a great player....
He broke the color barrier and if he never did that then we wouldnt have some of the best baseball players today....they would all be white....i think that what he did was amazing and he was very noble for doing what he did. He has inspired me and he made a big big difference in the world....so we all should respect him for the man that he was and for the player he that he was too. GO YANKEES!!!

Answer 2

Exactly who would you be comparing him with? Because of his time spent in college, the army, and the ***** Leagues, he only played 9 MLB seasons. He batted either leadoff, 2nd, 6th, and sometimes 8th. There's not a lot of RBI potential there. His SB% was over 80%, a great figure. The most he struck out in a season was 40 times, and that was a season that he had 636 plate appearances. He played 4 different positions in his career, and his per season averages in HR, RBI, SB, and runs scored were comparable to that of other players at those positions, with the exception of 1B. Had he played an entire career in the majors, he would have been very impressive.

Answer 3

I don't know that you can ignore the things that he went through during his rookie season or the impact he had on the game during his career. However, if you want to look at stats to determine if he is overrated lets see...
He was a rookie at the age of 28, playing many of his prime athletic years in the ***** Leagues, which kept no comparable statistics for which we could add to his overall numbers. In 1947, he won the Rookie of the Year, hitting .297 and leading the National League in stolen bases with 29. All of this was done with the weight of racial slurs, threats, and some of his own teammates requesting trades rather than to play with him.
The 10 years he played in the Major Leagues he was an All-Star 6 times. He won the MVP in 1949, hitting .342 with 16 homers, 124 RBI, 122 Runs, and 37 steals (league leader again). I would take those numbers on any fantasy team!
Look at his averages over his ten year career, here is what you get:
HR: 13.7/year
RBI: 73.4/year
Runs: 94.7/year
Avg: .311
Stolen Bases: 19.7/year
Hits: 151.8/year
Doubles: 27.3/year
Triples: 5.4/year
K/BB ratio: 29/74 per year
Fielding Pct: .983 (sometimes playing 3 different positions)

The last 2-3 years of his career age and injury caused him to play less and bring these averages down. His career was brief and so his total statistics don't stand up to some other Hall of Fame players, but his averages during his prime years are pretty impressive and do hold up in comparison.
Again, Jackie Robinson is not being celebrated this weekend because of his greatness on the field, but the cultural impact he had not only on the sport, but in country. He handled himself in such a manner that it made it hard for anyone to say that black players did not belong. During his playing career other black players won multiple awards; Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, just to name a few. He may not have been as great a baseball player as those I just named, but he is certainly not overrated!

Answer 4

Jackie's "LIFETIME" started when he was 28 years old, (when he came up in 1947). He (only) played 10 full seasons.You cannot measure his success as a person and a human being, but what he went through just to play was unimaginable.

In his first 8 years, (1947-1954, when Jackie was 28-35), his numbers averaged out (per season) to:

.319 BA, 15 HRs, 104 Runs, 22 SB, and only 30 Strikeouts.

Plus his team went to the World Series 6 times...

Answer 5

Statistically he's very similar to Derek Jeter, 183 HR's, 250 SB, .317 BA, 1 season with over 100 RBI's, both ROY. The few differences are robinson was payed a lot less money, he played with more energy, played better defence, played under intense racism, played in 6 world series, and won an MVP award.

Answer 6

Remember -- Robinson had already played in the ***** Leagues when he jumped to the major leagues, not to mention the fact that he was in college and the armed forces (World War II). So he "lost" several years of his career that would have piled up some of his statistics. Robinson also retired a bit early rather than accept a trade to the Giants.

Robinson also made speed more of a weapon than it had been since the 1910's. Baseball was pretty much station to station, wait for the long ball during the 1920-1945 era. Robinson started to change that, paving the way for players like Willie Mays.

And he did it while receiving abuse on the field and off, staying at substandard hotels, and undergoing pressure that would have broken 99 of 100 men. Remember, the armed forces weren't even integrated until 1948. Don Newcombe, another Dodger, says Dr. Martin Luther King told him people like Robinson made his job of gaining racial equality that much easier.

It's important to look at Robinson's statistics within the context of his time. He'd be an excellent player in any era. And then, you forget about those numbers because of the circumstances, and remember the man.

Answer 7

It took him a few years to adjust to the "overall" higher level of play in MLB. He was signed by the Dodgers, then spent one year playing minor league ball. His first two seasons Robinson was good, not great. He came into his own in his 3rd season, Robinson was a great ML player from seasons 3 through 8 of his career.

Jackie Robinson - 1951
BA-338 OB%-429 SLG-527 HR-19 RBI-88
R-106 SB-25 CS-8

Defense - 2B
GP-153 TC-832 PO-390 A-435 E-7 DP-137
FLD%-.992 RF-5.50

This is one of the best seasons in the modern(1946-2006) history of baseball by a second baseman.

Answer 8

Keep in mind that he didn't start playing in MLB right away. After lettering in 4 sports at UCLA for 4 years, Jackie was in the Army and then played in the ***** Leagues for two or three years. He only played 10 years for the Dodgers, so considering that, those aren't too bad. Oh, and then there's the whole breaking the color barrier and dealing with death threats and opposing players petitioning to have him kicked out of the league. I did notice that you didn't include the fact that he scored 947 runs in his career, walked 740 times and only struck out 291 times or that he had a career fielding percentage of .983, while playing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, SS and OF in those 10 years.

No, Jackie Robinson definitely was not overrated.

Answer 9

Jackie Robinson was not a power hitter, but was great at fielding and was probaly faster than L.T. Also he was the first African American to play in the league making him the greatest civil rights leader in History. Though a person who broke a different color barrier Roberto Clemente the first hispanic player who isa even better in about everything except speed and you never here his name which is really unfair.

Jackie led his team to a bunch of Pennant wins and only one world series win losing to those very bad Yankees. So he waseat team leader, but is very over rated. He was just great, but not to great coming from a Giants fan

Answer 10

When people talk about Jackie Robinson, they don't talk about his hitting stats, though. In fact, some say he would have been a better football player. What he did was basically sacrifice himself mentally and physically so that pro baseball's color barrier could be eliminated and allow Blacks to play in MLB. It's amazing he even played as well as he did facing so much hostility. So no, I think it's impossible to say he's overrated when what he did was absolutely unprecedented.