Ok, so the annual Hall of Fame voting just took place and, yet again, I am left in disbelief. Sure, we can talk about many players who have not yet made the Hall of Fame, but I'm here to speak of only one...Dale Murphy.
Already I've been met with a "how about Rob Deer" comment. But, seriously, does anyone even remember the 1980's and Dale Murphy?
The brief version of my disgust is this...how do you leave a player who won back to back NL MVP awards, hit 30 HR or more in 6 different seasons, hit 20HR or more in 12 straight seasons, won 5 straight Gold Gloves, went to 7 All-Star games, is a member of the 30-30 club, played in 162 games in 4 straight seasons, and played 18 seasons...posing the only offensive threat in the Braves lineup in virtually every one.
With this list of players registering even a single vote, Dale Murphy should be in the HoF ten times over:
Rod Beck
Travis Fryman
Robb Nen
Shawon Dunston
Chuck Finley
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Todd Stottlemyre
Heck, some of those guys don't even know how to spell.
The Hall has to do a better job of reflecting the times. The game was different in the 80's...remember the 82 Cardinals? Dale Murphy excelled like few others and DEFINITELY deserves a place in the Hall of Fame.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Is this an inside joke?
Posted by South at 9:29 PM
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4 Swings of the bat:
Dale Murphy was god, but not for very long. Sort of like Jim Rice, actually. JAWS likes him less than Dawson:
Dale Murphy was a converted catcher who became a Gold Glove center fielder and two-time MVP. At his peak he was considerably more valuable than Dawson thanks to better plate discipline, but he was also helped by his home park more than Dawson over the course of his career: .281/.368/.499 with 217 HR at home, .250/.324/.440 with 181 HR on the road. Like Dawson again, his defensive reputation was considerably overstated; he won Gold Gloves in 1985 and '86 while being a combined 40 runs below average according to FRAA. His career fell off the table after he turned 32; he had only one more season above 2.8 WARP, and was cooked at 37, a mere two homers from reaching 400. He hasn't pulled above 15 percent of the vote since 2001, and while he's rallied from a low of 8.5 percent in 2004, his candidacy is wheeling around its own oxygen tank.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7007
I like Raines of all the outfielders
That should be "Dale was good." Not god.
I tend to view Murph as a guy who flamed very brightly for a period and then fell off very quickly, ala Alan Trammell.
Once Murph hit the age of 32 he was a mediocre to average player. I'm sorry, but HOF players, unless cut down by serious injury prematurely, should still be able to produce above average results into their 30s.
Hawk should go in before Murph for this very reason.
Heck, induct Rock and Hawk together, have the ceremony at Olympic Stadium and Jonah Keri will be the happiest man on the planet!
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