Though not just ‘cos of his stolen bases, which is his most overrated skill — and one of the most overrated skills in baseball. According to Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus, the “break even” point for stealing bases is roughly 75%: if you’re doing worse than that, you’re actually hurting your team’s ability to score runs. Rickey’s SB/CS ratio was 81% over his career, so he generally helped his teams by attempting to steal as much he did, but not nearly to the degree people think.

Where Rickey was probably most underrated was in his obscene OBP skills: a career .401 — nine times in the Top 3 in the American League. As any good SABR dude will tell you, avoiding outs is the single most important skill a hitter can have. In his halcyon A’s days it just seemed like he was always on base for the Big Bashers. More than anyone else, he was the straw that stirred those great teams’ drink. As a Red Sox fan, I was always absolutely petrified of him.

Factor in his power (particularly in his youth, when it seemed like he led off every other game with a homerun), speed on the basepaths, and — maybe most impressive of all — the unbelievable durability and longevity, and it’s not even a debate. Yes, those 28 clowns who voted against him should probably have their HOF voting rights stripped.

now that he’s in the hall, can he come back up to the bigs? you know he’s been working on a comeback….

anyway, awesome to see rickey get the respect he deserves. one of my all time favorite players.

And the Warriors announcer will show him on the big screen, announce him, and he’ll get his cheers.