Jackie Robinson- the Player
Jackie Robinson was 28 years old when he began his major league career, having been born in 1919. Most people don’t realize how old he was when he was a rookie; Jackie Robinson most certainly lost at least five of his prime years due to the very color barrier that he broke. Baseball fans are also under the impression that Jackie Robinson was a second baseman from the outset, but the truth is he played all of his 151 games that year at first. Jackie Robinson is viewed as a base stealing machine, but he only once stole more than 30 bases and finished his career with less than 200, which doesn’t even get him near the top one hundred of all time. Jackie Robinson knocked in over 100 runs in a season only once.
What was special about Jackie Robinson was that he had a great batting eye. His lifetime ratio of walks to strikeouts proves this point. Jackie Robinson walked 740 times in ten seasons as opposed to whiffing a total of 291; the fact that he played ten years makes it easy to do the math, 74 walks a year to 29 strikeouts. 74 walks might not sound like much, but Jackie Robinson was a second baseman with only average power. With an on base percentage of .409 for his 1,382 games played, Jackie Robinson put his team in position to score runs. And score runs he did.
From 1947-1953 Jackie Robinson scored 100 or more runs every season except for 1950, when he tallied 99. His 125 runs scored in his rookie year were a career high, and Jackie Robinson earned Rookie of the Year honors on the strength of those runs. He hit .297 and only had 48 RBI in 1947, not great numbers from a position such as first base that is expected to deliver more.
The arrival of Gil Hodges to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948 allowed Jackie Robinson to move to second base. Jackie Robinson hit .296 in his sophomore season and hit 12 home runs with 85 RBI. The Dodgers now had a competent second baseman for the next few seasons; Jackie Robinson would combine with shortstop Pee Wee Reese to provide Brooklyn with a double pay combination that was top notch. During the course of his playing days, Jackie Robinson would also play some third base and in the outfield. He even played one errorless game at short, showing his versatility and willingness to help his team.
The National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1949, Jackie Robinson won the honor by having easily his best year in the major leagues. He hit a lifetime high .342 while winning his only batting title with over 200 hits for the only time in his baseball career. He also knocked in 124 runs, 29 more than his next best season of 95 in 1953. Starting in 1949 and right through the 1954 season, the on base percentage of Jackie Robinson was over .400 each year. The Dodgers won the pennant for the second time in his first three years in ’49, but Jackie Robinson did not hit well in the World Series versus the Yankees. He went only 3 for 16 with 4 walks in a five game loss to New York.
For the next four years, Jackie Robinson would knock in at least 75 runs and score at least 99. His career best on base percentage of .440 in 1952 led the National League, the last category he ever led the senior circuit in. He played in the World Series against New York in 1952 and 1953 during this period, going a combined 12 for 48 in the two Series losses. Jackie Robinson began the 1954 season at the age of 35, and his skills were clearly in decline. Injuries kept him out of the line-up numerous times for the rest of his career, and Jackie Robinson’s runs scored totals were way down. He scored only 62 runs in 1954, 51 in 1955, and 61 in his final year, 1956.
His controversial steal of home in 1955 contributed to the Dodger’s only defeat of the Yankees in World Series play while they were still in Brooklyn. To this day Yogi Berra swears on his life that Jackie Robinson was out at the plate on the Game One theft. Jackie Robinson only hit .182 in that Series. Indeed, in his six World Series, all against the Yankees, Jackie Robinson only hit .234 in 38 contests.
His dancing on the base paths did unnerve opposing pitchers. You would think that Jackie Robinson would have been hit by pitches more often. Even though he did lead the league once in 1948 with the modest total of 7, Jackie Robinson does not rank in the top 100 lifetime with his 72 times being hit by a pitched ball. Pitchers figured out that putting him on base probably was not the best of ideas. Also, his relatively low number of stolen bases can be attributed to the lack of running in baseball during those years that he played.
Would Jackie Robinson have been a Hall of Famer based solely on his numbers? Probably not. He only played ten seasons, quitting the game after the Dodgers traded him to the hated New York Giants after the 1956 season. His lifetime average of .311 was very respectable, but he only averaged 14 home runs and 74 RBI a year. He won but the one batting crown. But if you combine his will to win and courage under the most adverse conditions ever faced by any athlete in this country’s history with his solid playing career, Jackie Robinson’s place in baseball’s Hall of Fame is secure for the rest of time.
