How Great was Jackie Robinson?

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Posted By: Justin

I just read a biography of him, and I agree that his stats don't tell the whole picture. He had a couple amazing years most notably 1949, could do everything very well, and was generally regarded as the key to the Dodgers success.

He could beat you in so many ways, and his modest stolen base totals don't really tell the story of his baserunning feats. All sorts of accounts exist of him upsetting pitchers when he was on base, allowing his teammates at bat to draw walks or get hits.

He played a very hard nosed style which led to injuries, plus he came into the majors at age 28 and retired relatively young. If you add say 3 years of play to his career, his stats would look alot more impressive.

Finally, he spent his first couple of seasons playing under the restraints set by Branch Rickey, to not fight back and to turn the other cheek. His first two seasons are very good by any standard, but I don't think any player has ever had to play under such duress.

The stats don't really tell the story, very few players can be described as iconic, but Jackie is one of them. I think he would have stood out even if he wasn't the first to break the colorline.