Posted By:
Frank WakefieldThe All Century team stuff is crap....
I don't mind living in a democracy, I just get annoyed when the majority automatically believes they're right. Sometimes a majority can be wrong. 788k votes to 630k over Hornsby, I deduce from that voting that the voters aren't well informed. Hornsby wasn't as good of a fielder, he was 1.5x a better hitter.
That said, Jackie Robinson was a great, strong person. And a very good baseball player, deserving of his first year induction into the Hall of Fame. Jason nailed the style of play and competitiveness.
If Robinson had been white and started in his early twenties, he'd have great stats, much better than what he has.
Lesser men could not have done what he did. And his greatness transcends baseball. He was the first black man with a nationally syndicated newspaper column, for example. Sure, his baseball skills provided opportunities to do some of the things he accomplished. But few men could have done what he did.
And you guys know his brother Mack was running track in Germany with Jesse Owens, came home with a silver medal, and when he sought a job in California they made him a streetsweeper.