[JTysver]

I will make an easy statistical argument for him...

He was a better player than Derek Jeter, who everyone would agree is a first ballot hall of famer. So if you can imagine Jeter not being a hall of famer, you would have to not admit Robinson. But if you see Jeter as being a Hall of Famer, Robinson goes in based upon how good he was.

Let's compare his career to Derek Jeter.

Jackie Robinson had a .311 Lifetime average, Derek Jeter had a .309 lifetime average.

Jackie Robinson averaged 5.42 WAR per season, Derek Jeter (despite the added benefit of playing a WAR rich position) averaged 4.775 per season.

Jackie Robinson had a lifetime OPS of .883. Derek Jeter had a lifetime OPS of .817

Now I will make an impact argument for him
He broke the color barrier and with his clear success, opened up other teams to adding black players as well.
He fundamentally changed the game. There have been only a handful of players who have fundamentally changed the game. Candy Cummings invented a curveball. Babe Ruth made the home run an integral part of the game and took us out of the station to station period of baseball. Jackie Robinson brought speed as part of the game into the game. Prior to this, speed was never used to pressure the opposition.
All are in the hall of fame because of their impact on the game.

Now I will make a human argument for him
Roberto Clemente was inducted into the hall of fame with a waiver of the wait rule because of his contributions to society. Jackie, also was considered for his contributions to society.
Jackie's stance on not sitting in the back of a bus was what inspired Rosa Parks to take her stance. His refusing to leave the lunch counter at Woolworths inspired the same stances some 20 years later. Jackie was the founder of the modern Civil Rights movement. Not a single historian would dispute that.

Now I will make a fame argument for him
In 1949, in a poll conducted, Jackie Robinson was voted the most popular man in America. That is despite there having been no civil rights movements at that time and that is despite there being complete segregation.


The hall does not have accumulation requirements other than you must have played 10 years and reached 4000 at bats. That is all that matters.

Lastly, Jackie Robinson is not a hall of famer because of the color of his skin. He is a hall of famer in every possible way that the hall of fame exists. To simply imply that he is lacking in any of the manners that the hall exists signifies nothing but a total lack of understanding of the game and its history. To assume that he could have only gotten into the hall because he was black or the first thereof is pure ignorance.
Let me put it this way, if there was a Mount Rushmore for the game you would have Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson and either Mays or Mantle. Jackie is at that level of fame and importance to the game. In fact, of all of the other people I mentioned on this Baseball Mount Rushmore, Jackie is the only one who makes the hall in every possible way. Cobb, Ruth and Mantle lacked the character to make it and Mays really had little impact on our country and society.