What if I told you that one of the most dominant hitters of his era was snubbed from the Hall of Fame?
That is the case with Dale Murphy. Apparently, back-to-back MVPs, 5 Gold Gloves, and 4 Silver Slugger Awards have not been enough to get the RBI leader from the 1980s a plaque in Cooperstown.
Which frankly, is a joke.
His accomplishments dwarf those of Harold Baines, who got in due to the Today’s Game Era Ballot. It seems that Murph is being punished for playing on some pretty bad Braves teams in the 1980s, despite being the most dominant hitter in baseball for a period of time and a true five-tool player.
The Modern Era committee better get this one right next time around.
The same could be said for Fred McGriff. It is an absolute crime that Crime Dog is not in (and Baines is).
Hitting 400 home runs used to mean an automatic plaque in Cooperstown. McGriff, who hit 493 career home runs, has gotten no respect from the baseball writers. At all. It seems he has been overshadowed by players who used PEDs. Assuming McGriff was clean, he could have easily had over 600 home runs if he stooped to the level of the sluggers around him.
Like Murphy, there was a period where McGriff was one of the best hitters in the game. From 1987-1993, he had the most home runs in baseball. The sad thing is that if he had hit seven more career homers, he probably would have been voted in years ago. This obsession with milestones in baseball has clouded a fantastic career of a Hall of Fame worthy player.
McGriff has picked up some steam in his last season on the ballot but is likely to fall short once again. It will be up to the Era Committee to serve him the justice he deserves from a great career that saw him help Atlanta win a championship in 1995.
If Baines gets in via this route, and McGriff does not, my lifelong goal of visiting Cooperstown will be null.
The whole Hall of Fame voting is a mess. The fact that there has never been a unanimous vote for a player into the Hall of Fame shows just how lame some of these baseball writers really are. These two players should be in the Hall of Fame. No ifs, ands, or buts.