my list of most overrated and underrated professional athletes of my lifetime

blueedwards · Dec 21, 2006

Journeyman said:
I would agree with this too..I don't believe he ever stole anywhere near 50 bases though....Aaron grew up batting with his hands the opposite way on the bat too.

Frank Robinson is very underrated too.

you're correct...aaron stole in the mid 20's to low 30's each year when he was younger. frank robinson is another one...very underrated

gynecologist · Dec 21, 2006

Can't believe two people on here said Barry Sanders was overrated. That is sooooooooooooo wrong.. Barry Sanders would have every rushing record if he played an extra two seasons. He retired early cause his small frame couldn't take the abuse anymore.

Most overrated player of all time is an easy one: Emmitt Smith

The guy had 3 pro bowlers on his offensive line that opened huge and I mean huge holes for him. He had heart and desire but no way is he a top 5 RB..

Not even close. Put any above average RB in that situation and extremely similar results would of occured.

Look at Edgarrin James he is shit w/o an O-LINE..

fivestarjake · Dec 21, 2006

gynecologist said:
Can't believe two people on here said Barry Sanders was overrated. That is sooooooooooooo wrong.. Barry Sanders would have every rushing record if he played an extra two seasons. He retired early cause his small frame couldn't take the abuse anymore.

Most overrated player of all time is an easy one: Emmitt Smith

The guy had 3 pro bowlers on his offensive line that opened huge and I mean huge holes for him. He had heart and desire but no way is he a top 5 RB..

Not even close. Put any above average RB in that situation and extremely similar results would of occured.

yeah lets say the rushing leader of all time is overrated lol. isnt that what the lines job to do is...BLOCK. cowboys had exactly 4 count them 4 designed rushing plays and your telling me defenses couldnt hone in on that all those years. gimme a break. im not a cowboys fan but clearly anyone who doesnt like dallas is going to say aikman,irvin and smith are overrated. would love to know how many times dallas won for you in those cowboy glory years. gyno im really starting to believe you are doing drugs.:lol:

TomBrady#1 · Dec 21, 2006

Journeyman said:
He was around 2,700 but had he not had those bad wheels who knows, he would have made a run...he was done as a full time player at around age 37.

He was an usual first baseman/OF when it came to batting stats.,..he wasn't a power hitter , his OBP was extremly low considering he was a very good average hitter...career OBP of only .321

Ironically he made ONE all-star team too...1981
The year of the 1981 strike ...that was a long boring summer for us kids who lived for basebal back then...I remember they came back from that long work stoppage and played the allstar game before restarting the season....interesting that he only made one mid summer classic.

Interesting. RBI's is the most important stat for hitters. Good RBI men are hard to find. Buck had a 100 RBI's three times and that is impressive considering he did not have a lot of power and remember back then no juice ball (most of thetime) or steroids. Also:
As a player he was a speedy baserunner who twice finished in the top-ten in the league in stolen bases. He twice led the league in doubles.

TomBrady#1 · Dec 21, 2006

Tom Brady#1 said:
Interesting. RBI's is the most important stat for hitters. Good RBI men are hard to find. Buck had a 100 RBI's three times and that is impressive considering he did not have a lot of power and remember back then no juice ball (most of thetime) or steroids. Also:
As a player he was a speedy baserunner who twice finished in the top-ten in the league in stolen bases. He twice led the league in doubles.

He won the batting title in 1980. He also was a good fielder and broke the record for assists for a first baseman in 1983.

Baseball is the best sport in my view as there is so many different stats and variables.

Journeyman · Dec 21, 2006

Tom Brady#1 said:
He won the batting title in 1980. He also was a good fielder and broke the record for assists for a first baseman in 1983.

Baseball is the best sport in my view as there is so many different stats and variables.

I agree, and I was pointing that out...sometimes stats doi not tell the whole story...of course we can only compare stats withoin each era as it is...

Buckner's a player that was unique because he was basically a singles hitter playing power posistions...I was a little surprised when I scanned over his walks and OBP #s which are extremely low...

A lot of players back then did not draw a ton of walks, Steve Garvey is another who comes to mind...

100 walks in a season was a ton of walks for anyone back then, and that goes back to pitching being better, and pitchers would come right after you with the 425 ft CF fences and ther 380 ft power alleys...

Now it`s nibble nibble ball four! :scared:

ClipJoint · Dec 21, 2006

I can't believe Barry Sanders name was mentioned as overrated. Here are some of his amazing stats and a discussion I started a while back:

http://forum.therx.com/showthread.php?t=402135

I think he was incredible.

fivestarjake · Dec 21, 2006

Clip Joint said:
I can't believe Barry Sanders name was mentioned as overrated. Here are some of his amazing stats and a discussion I started a while back:

http://forum.therx.com/showthread.php?t=402135

I think he was incredible.

if they counted all the yards when barry was slipping and sliding from east to west before he twisted his way through the defense he would be by far the nfl leader by a mile. he definitely had no line at detroit at all.:fballch3:

Antonioli · Dec 21, 2006

David Beckham

fivestarjake · Dec 21, 2006

severly underrated...the "babe" as in laufenberg.

Antonioli · Dec 21, 2006

David Beckham

Severly overrated.

Perhaps the best crosser of the ball of all time, brilliant at set pieces, that's about all you can give him credit as a mega star of football. Severly one dimentional, incapable of taking on a defender, poor in the air, incapable of shooting first time, inadequate first touch, bad defender, bad man marking ability, zero leadership skill(that's just ridiculous being england captain for 6 years)

Although the nature of football does not give players the opportunity to produce clutchness in a game, David Beckham's lack of leadership was definitely one of the reason why England have been underachieving in a squad most believed to be the best generation since 1966.

Degenerate · Dec 21, 2006

Overrated -

Cal Ripken
Bill Buckner (Gimme a break people)
Andre Dawson
Alfonso Soriano
Derek Jeter :finger:
Steve Garvey
Nolan Ryan
Pete Rose

Underrated -

Barry Larkin
Rock Raines
Dwight and Darrell Evans
Brain Downing
Doug DeCinces
Reggie Smith
Ron Cey
Bret Saberhagen
Joe Morgan
Jose Cruz Sr.

valium · Dec 21, 2006

Blue, i am surprised you have not mentioned the original Fergie.
Underrated as they come folks. not being named in this thread proves it.
Six straight Seasons of 20 wins or more. (pitching in wrigley) number 12 alltime career strikeouts. 267 complete games. one of only three pitchers to have 3000 K's and less than 1000 walks.

Fergie Jenkins

tkf18ny · Dec 21, 2006

pippen is probably the mosr overrated player in the history of the nba

allworld23 · Dec 21, 2006

Kevin Garnett: Hoops

Football: Jeff George

Baseball: RIPKEN ripken's streak was bullshiit...it should have an asterick, because his wife was caught banging Kevin Costner, Ripken came home and caught them, thus the famous, night game cancelled because the lighting was broken.

ALL OF THESE GUYS WERE HYPED UP ...

FairWarning · Dec 21, 2006

silver7 said:
are overrated doesn`t know shit about sports. OJ is not underrated he`s always given his due by those who know. I have a friend who loves MLB & Mays. He was saying how Willie was a better hitter than Hank. Now I love Mays too, but there is no lifetime hitting rec`d that Aaron is not ahead of Mays. How about the 1st D player to EVER be the league MVP in the NFL Alan Page? Finally some one realizes how Favre is so far overrated it`s insane, also Vick.

I'm the one who said LT was overrated - and he was. You could run all day at him. Harry Carson could go on the underrated list though.

FairWarning · Dec 21, 2006

Clip Joint said:
I can't believe Barry Sanders name was mentioned as overrated. Here are some of his amazing stats and a discussion I started a while back:

http://forum.therx.com/showthread.php?t=402135

I think he was incredible.

Sanders tried to hit the HR on every play, and many times hurt his team by doing so. He was a great player, just not in the top 3-5 like many have him.

Talking about O-Lines, Payton had no HOF linemen blocking for him either.

Journeyman · Dec 21, 2006

allworld23 said:
his wife was caught banging Kevin Costner, Ripken came home and caught them, thus the famous, night game cancelled because the lighting was broken.

I hope you don't really believe that?

hno:

royboy_3831 · Dec 21, 2006

To say Sanders or Smith is overrated is ridiculous imo. If anything Smith is underrated.

festeringZit · Dec 21, 2006

I agree that Pippen was wayy over-rated, top 50 ever? Not even close,
not even in the top 100.

W/out picking the crumbs off the floor from MJ, Pippen was a total
nobody.

Especially at crunch time, Pippen was a total choke boy.

Someone said David Ortiz was over-rated. Now that is a laugher.
Not only is Ortiz one of the top 3 power hitters in baseball, he
thrives in the clutch when the game is on the line.