Eddie Robinson

[Cowtipper]

Eddie Robinson spent 13 years in the big leagues, from 1942 to 1957, missing 1943, 1944 and 1945 due to service in WWII. In 1,315 games, he hit .268 with 172 home runs, a .353 on-base percentage and 113 OPS+. He had 521 strikeouts to only 359 walks, four times he hit over 20 home runs in a season and three times he had over 100 RBI. He was also an All-Star four times and he thrice received MVP votes.

Offensively, the first baseman didn't lead the league in much (only HBP, once), but on defense he was pretty solid. He led all league fielders in putouts three times and first baseman in putouts three times. He led all initial sackers in games four times and fielding percentage once.

He played in two World Series, hitting .300 with six hits and an RBI in the 1948 Fall Classic, helping the Indians win, and .667 in limited duty in the 1955 Fall Classic. Overall, in 10 postseason games, he hit .348 with eight hits and three walks in 23 at-bats.

Statistically, Robinson is similar to Walt Dropo, Alvin Davis, Donn Clendenon, Don Mincher, Lyle Overbay, Sixto Lezcano, Jason Thompson, Larry Hisle, Kevin Young and Kevin Millar. He is ranked #1011 on the Fan EloRater, ahead of Walt Weiss, Hubie Brooks and Vince Coleman, but behind Fred Schulte, Gary Ward and Bob Bescher.

What do you think about Eddie Robinson? Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Did he have Hall of Fame potential?

[Cowtipper]

If he had done what he did from age 28 to 32 sooner - that is, averaging 22 home runs, 97 RBI with a .370 on-base percentage - and longer, Robinson could have put together a Veteran's Committee-esque career. Say he averaged that for 15 years instead of five--that'd leave him with 336 home runs, 1,461 RBI and 2,415 hits. Alas, that's not what he did. I almost want to say he had Hall of Fame potential if the time he lost to World War II is factored in, but I don't think even that would have been enough to put him over the hump.

[Cougar]

Robinson, along with Ken Keltner, blocked Al Rosen from the Indians' major league roster in the late 1940's. Rosen was a third baseman who could have undoubtedly handled first base. Hence, Rosen, a HOF talent, started his career very late. Keltner was a better player than Robinson in my opinion -- Rosen should have played first base for the late 40's Cleveland teams.

It's a poor sign when the first thought about a player is "Shucks, he blocked a better player." Call it the Jim Presley club.

[Cowtipper]

Robinson had a 121 OPS+ through the first 849 games and eight years of his career. Then his production dropped off precipitously and he hit only .232 with a 94 OPS+ in his final 466 games (five years). What caused the major, sudden decline?

[Cougar]

Robinson had a 121 OPS+ through the first 849 games and eight years of his career. Then his production dropped off precipitously and he hit only .232 with a 94 OPS+ in his final 466 games (five years). What caused the major, sudden decline?

Occam's Razor would judge that the decline was almost certainly caused by the typical falloff in talent most players experience when they enter their mid-thirties.

Robinson does deserve some (WWII) war credit; he missed 1943-1945 completely, and didn't even play anything amounting to even a partial season in the majors until he was 26. I'd judge him to have been better than his career stats indicate. How much better is hard to say...missing developmental seasons are much harder to extrapolate than seasons from the heart of an established player's career (Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, Hank Greenberg, etc.)

[Fuzzy Bear]

Occam's Razor would judge that the decline was almost certainly caused by the typical falloff in talent most players experience when they enter their mid-thirties.

Robinson does deserve some (WWII) war credit; he missed 1943-1945 completely, and didn't even play anything amounting to even a partial season in the majors until he was 26. I'd judge him to have been better than his career stats indicate. How much better is hard to say...missing developmental seasons are much harder to extrapolate than seasons from the heart of an established player's career (Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, Hank Greenberg, etc.)

Robinson was 33 when he was traded to the Yankees. It’s kind of odd, but Robinson couldn’t win the job from Joe Collins, who was also a left-left guy who played 1B. (Collins played a little RF, but he was mainly at 1B.) I thought it odd because George Weiss and Casey Stengel weren’t shy about platooning, especially at the left end of the defensive spectrum, but Collins and Stengel both batted left.

The Yankees platooned Moose Skowron and Joe Collins at 1B despite Robinson’s successful 1953 season. Robinson hit 16 HRs in 173 ABs in 1955, but his BA was only .208 (although his OBP was .358). He faded fast after 1955, but I’ve got to believe that Robinson suffered from lack of regular play during his first 2 years with the Yankees. What I wonder about is why Robinson wasn’t made a platoon regular with Skowron in 1954. Skowron was a .300 hitter against lefties coming up and was well regarded, but Robinson was an All-Star who was only 33 years old. Shouldn’t he have received more consideration than Joe Collins?

Maybe not. It was the Yankees of the Weiss-Stengel era that produced the image of the Yankees as cold and impersonal. “Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for US Steel.” That’s what many folks thought, and the Yankee GM George Weiss gave credence to this. Weiss build a huge farm system, and he was unsentimental. Weiss considered a player over 30 that wasn’t a superstar to be over the hill, and a guy that he wanted to replace. Collins was never the star Robinson was, but he was only 30 to Robinson’s 33. Robinson was a guy who was going to suddenly be done; he couldn’t be trusted to anything more than a platoon role.

Robinson isn’t a HOFer, and he really didn’t have HOF potential, but he’d have been more highly regarded if he had spent his entire career in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, or Chicago (with the Cubs), and if he hadn’t lost 3 years to WWII. Under those circumstances, he may well have topped 300 HRs and if there had been Gold Glove awards to go with all that, Robinson would have been a more memorable player then he had been. He would have been compared favorably to Mickey Vernon and Gil Hodges. That didn’t happen, however. Robinson did, however, have a long, rich career in baseball that lasted into his 80s. He had a sixty-five (65) year career in baseball, playing for seven of the original eight AL teams and working for years as a scout for the Red Sox, the only AL team he didn’t work for, plus he was a GM for the Texas Rangers. He isn’t a HOFer, but he shouldn’t be forgotten, either.