Honestly, at a visceral level, I never would have thought this argument could be sensibly made. But today on the really fine MLB Dirt blog, Jonathan C. Mitchell posits a pretty convincing case (
"This post is not to say that John Olerud belongs in the Hall of Fame or to say Jim Rice does not belong but to point out that the career Olerud had, although slightly better than Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice’s ... is historically underrated for his on-field accomplishments."
Your thoughts, Bauxites?