In the 80s it is pretty clear that Ripken was extremely underrated defensively. Everyone just knew a shortstop had to be small, fast and make lots of driving stops. Ripken was bigger, slower, and simply had a strong arm and knew where to best position himself on the field. He took away a lot of hits just by being in the right place and able to throw from his feet
His decline in the 90s does not change how far ahead he was from the average shorstop during his first 10 years
Other than Rodriguez (who will soon be seen as a thirdbaseman for his career) what shortstops have had better careers in the past 100 years?
If most people see him as being light years better than Yount or Larkin or Banks, than he his vastly overrated. From what I have seen most people only have him slightly better, which seems pretty accurate to me
His decline in the 90s does not change how far ahead he was from the average shorstop during his first 10 years
Other than Rodriguez (who will soon be seen as a thirdbaseman for his career) what shortstops have had better careers in the past 100 years?
If most people see him as being light years better than Yount or Larkin or Banks, than he his vastly overrated. From what I have seen most people only have him slightly better, which seems pretty accurate to me
If people really think Griffey had a better career than Bonds through 1998, he most certainly would be overrated. The slight defensive edge does not make up for 60 fewere homeruns, over 100 fewer doubles and less than half as many walks (656 to over 1357 for Bonds)
Sandy Koufax might be another one to add. A lot of people see him as perhaps best pitcher ever. Yet with Bob Gibson around not so sure he was even the best of that generation
Jeter and Pete Rose would be two others. Rose was great, but in the Gwynn/Raines class, not Yastrzesmki, Henderson level. As much as I hate to say it, Roberto Clemente is usually overrated as a baseball player. Equal with Yaz and Kaline, not Aaron and Mays as he is often included with
While Smith is a good choice for a player usually overrated, this would make Vizquel even moreso, if enough people consider him better. Smith is perhaps best defensive player in history, Vizquel was not close to that. Smith's offense relative to league average was definitely better and Smith was one of the best baserunners in history
tripping bro, Bo is the greatest athlete of all-time!!! period, yes he was a better football player than baseball, but dont mention him in a conversation about the MOST overrated ever..
hno:.if Bo would have play basketball he would have been an All-Star too, he was the shit..:cripwalk::cripwalk::cripwalk:
