Great athletes that you had no idea that they were over rated

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This is one of the great frauds in sports history. Ozzie is THE shining example of how an average player gets glorified by the media because of likeability. Ozzie Smith, without the flips and the great smile, is Craig Counsel. His career offensive numbers are absolutely laughable. In 19 years, he has 2,400 hits (less than one per game), a .262 batting average and a whopping 2 HR and 50 RBI average per year.

“But he’s a 15 time All Star” you shout! That supports the joke that is All-Star voting. Let’s look at his “All-Star” performances: .222, .248, .243, .254, .257. The guy hit .300 ONCE in his career, and barely! “But,” you protest, “Ozzie was a wizard in the field! He had 13 Gold Gloves!” So you are basing your other strong argument for Ozzie’s greatness on the second-most ridiculous “award” in sports—the popularity contest that is the Golden Glove. Again, let’s take a look. Only twice in 19 seasons did Ozzie field over .985, and he had over 20 errors in a season five times, or about 30% of his career.

Let’s compare Ozzie to a couple of his peers: Derek Jeter: Let’s not insult Derek like this. This is not even close in any category you pick, statistical, leadership, world titles, playoff wins, etc.

Omar Vizquel: Omar has more hits, HR, RBI and a better career batting average. In fact, he destroys Ozzie in every offensive category. So let’s move to defense. Omar is a LIFETIME .985 fielder, and only had 20 errors ONCE in 24 years. Again, sorry Ozzie, this isn’t even close. Even Omar Vizquel is far better than you are.

Honestly, if you look at numbers, both offensive AND DEFENSIVE, Ozzie Smith ranks somewhere around Tim Teufel and the aforementioned Craig Counsel. Seriously, look it up people. Ozzie Smith was average AT BEST. Realistically, he is completely average by any measure you want to make: no power, not a great fielder, didn’t hit for average, etc. The fact that Ozzie Smith is EVEN IN the Hall of Fame, let alone being a first ballot Hall of Famer, is embarrassing. Sorry I had to pull the curtain back on the Oz—but he is the most overrated athlete in sports history.

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