Quote:
Originally Posted by cgjackson222
Both Campanella and Jackie Robinson were amazing players, but its hard to say that Campanella was a better player than Jackie simply because he won more MVPs. In 1951, Campanella's first MVP year he had a WAR of 6.9 Guess who actually led the Natioanl League? It was Jackie with a whopping 9.7.
In 1952, Campanella's second MVP year he had a WAR of 6.8. Jackie beat him out again with 6.9.
And in 1953, Campanella's third MVP year, his war was only 5.2, tied for 12th in the National League with Ted Kluszewski and teammate Don Newcombe.
The fact is that for some reason if you were a catcher, it was easier to win MVP in the 1950s. Just look at Yogi Berra's 3 MVPs including in '51 (WAR of 5.3), '54 (WAR of 5.3) and '55 (WAR of 4.5 which was 11th in the league).
https://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/...st-mvp-winners
Its hard to think of Jackie Robinson has having been underrated as a player, but he may very well have been.
https://www.mlb.com/news/most-underrated-hall-of-famers |
A few things:
First, Campanella won the MVP in 1951, 1953 and 1955, not 1951, 1952 and 1953.
Second, in 1953, his second MVP season, he had a higher WAR than Jackie - 6.8 vs 5.9. It would be hard to argue that a catcher playing good defense while hitting .312 with 41 homers and a 154 OPS+ is NOT the right choice for MVP.
Third, their 1951 seasons show just how goofy WAR is when comparing players. Campanella hit .325 with 33 homers and a 159 OPS+ while playing good defense (dWAR of 1.1) but gets a WAR of 6.9. Jackie hits .338 with 19 homers and a 154 OPS+ while playing great defense (2.4 dWAR) and gets a 9.7 WAR. Basically, Jackie benefited from the rest of his contemporaries at 2B being relatively terrible so he gets a bump from WAR. I think Campy had the better season, your mileage might vary.
Finally, during his actual third MVP season of 1955, Campy had a WAR of 5.2 while Jackie had a 2.6 while missing 49 games.