Most overrated baseball player of all time

I get so tired of the "crappy teams" excuse.
Maybe they were crappy because their supposed ace was as likely to lose every time out as he was to win.
The Phillies were pretty crappy in 72. Steve Carlton went 27-10. The best deal with it, and make their teams better.
Ryan was a physical phemenon. He was also nearly a .500 career pitcher.

 

OK, I know you guys hate Clemens, but Ryan can't touch his career...

 

In 462 postseason at-bats, Jeter is a .307 hitter with 16 HRs, 47 RBI and 16 SBs. Add some clutch plays -- when he fell over the fence to make a catch, the disputed flip to home to nail Giambi, etc. -- I have to give it to the guy. I can't stand the Yankees, but dammit, he's a guy I would want on my team.

As for Bonds, he might not have done much in the postseason before it, but he tore up the Angels in the 2002 World Series -- batted .471 with four HRs, six RBI and walked 13 times. The guy did everything he could have done, and the Giants damn near won a World Series because of his play.

In their primes, I would take Bonds and Jeter every time.

 

Yet they managed to get over that fear enough to beat Ryan almost as often as he beat them.

Ryan benefits from our fascination with flamethrowers and with the strikeout. He tends to be rated more highly than he deserves because of that. Does he deserve his spot in the Hall? Probably. But he's not in the same class as guys like Seaver, Carlton, Gibson, etc. He was just too beatable, even in his prime.

 

What about Reggie Jackson?

 

We went over the rings. You just want to mix it up.

Your argument is as weak and lame as the rings argument belched forth by every insipid sports radio caller in the country.

Overrated, peace be with you.

 

Maybe it's me, I just don't understand how this is overrated...

Rookie of the Year, 7-time all-star, 2-time Gold Glover, five Top-10 MVP finishes, six Top-10 finishes in batting, 2000 World Series MVP, reached 2000 hits in just over 10 seasons, team captain, etc...

As I said before, overpaid? Perhaps. Overrated? The results speak for themselves.

The argument about not being the best shortstop on his own team—come on, A-Rod is a first-ballot hall of Famer. Let's pretend it's 1927. Are you gonna say Lou Gehrig is overrated because he's not even the top slugger on his team? That's the argument you're making.

 

Let me interrupt this Nolan Ryan/Derek Jeter/Cal Ripken bloodletting (all worthy entries, BTW) to take a trip in the Wayback Machine.

TinkerEversChance. Or as a 21st century baseball historian should put it: "Bogus to Fraud to Joke."

Their ghosts should have to pay an admission fee to haunt Cooperstown.

 

Sorry to get semantical on you all here, but how do you define "overrated"?

To call someone overrated you first have to decide what they are rated, and that changes from person to person.
Someone can be unarguably a great player and still overrated because, say, he's considered the best of all-time. On the same token, a subpar player deemed great is also overrated. The reason overrated is a buzzword that many talk radio fools throw around is, it's hard to pin down a definition -- therefore making unending discussion possible.

A better question here would be, "What Hall of Famers don't deserve to be in the Hall?" or "Is (insert player) among the top 10/20/50 at his position?" -- something we can work to quantify, or at least have a starting point.

Also, what does it achieve to call Nolan Ryan or Derek Jeter "overrated"? So what? Does it mean they aren't great players? Does it mean they don't get into/deserve to be in the HOF?

As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said about pornography: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

For me, the same goes with Hall of Fame baseball players.

 

Let me just make sure I've got this right ... A-Rod is a fraud because he hasn't won anything yet and isn't clutch, but Jeter is overrated because his clutch plays are largely overhyped (he didn't have to dive into the stands; Giambi was safe anyway!) and rings don't matter when determining a player's greatness.

I'm not picking out any particular poster, but these appear to be common themes when discussing these two athletes. Seems to me Gee is right. Just say you hate the Yankees and get on with it.

 

I only read the first page, and I can't help but laugh at the Derek Jeter comments.
You guys are funny.

Some good names on that first page - Gregg Jefferies WAS a bust (dammit, i still have his 1988 topps rookie card), and I'm sure at some point Brien Taylor was mentioned, though he never made the bigs (right?).

My gueess? It's probably somebody who's on the cusp of the Hall of Fame but never got in.

And i can only imagine people are saying A-Rod, and that he's never won ... well that's fine, but then those same people can't list Jeter, because he has won.

 

That's pretty much the nut graf of the whole "Ryan is overrated" belief. Is he one of the 25 best pitchers of all-time? maybe. probably. one of the 15 best? I'd say no, but I wouldn't argue too strongly if someone tried to argue that he was. one of the 5 best? hell no he wasn't, and yet plenty of people seem to believe that to be the case. that's where the overrated claim comes from. people want to assign a status that his career just doesn't quite back up. doesn't mean he's not a hall of famer.

when he was at his best, he was obviously pretty unhittable and a strikeout machine. but he was also highly inconsistent and had a bad habit of walking the ballpark -- leading to losses. I like Nolan Ryan a lot. loved watching him pitch. but you never knew whether you were going to get a no-hitter or a five-inning outing where he threw 120 pitches.