Dale Murphy and the HoF

With Mark McGwire finally admitting his steroids use - it made me wonder if some the real victims here were great players who looked lesser through the prism of steroid inflated statistics. Fred McGriff is a obvious victim but what about Dale Murphy? (And I know I'm assuming that both McGriff and Murphy were clean.)

Murphy won 2 MVP's and 5 Gold Gloves plus he was widely acknowledged as one of the most if not the most decent person in baseball. Yet when it came time for Hall of Fame voting - he was almost completely ignored.

Here's Murphy's Baseball-reference.com page

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/murphda05.shtml

 

Just as an aside - Murphy is in 48th place on the all-time HR list with 398. 24 of the players ahead of him are in the Hall and another 10 have been linked to steroids.

Fred McGriff is in 26th place all-time and 7 of the players above him have been linked to steroids and of the remaining 18 - 15 are in the Hall of Fame (the others being Griffey Jr., Thome, and Frank Thomas).

 

Murphy is also one of two guys to win back-to-back MVPs and not be in the Hall. The other, also relevant to this thread, is Roger Maris.

 

He's a first-ballot for the Hall of Nice Guys, but not the HOF, even in the pre-steroid era. Having said that, he did quite a lot, considering the Braves never really had a good person to protect him in the lineup.

 

Was my favorite player growing up, but even I don't think he deserves to be in the Hall. Faded too quickly.

 

Grew up idolizing Murphy, the guy practically covered my bedroom walls from floor to ceiling. But I have to agree with Steak and expendable.

I think Murphy is a prime example of how playing for a shitty team brings your overall value down.

I have no doubt in my mind that if Murphy had started his career a few years later and been a part of at least the early years of the Braves run, he'd be a Hall of Famer. People would just view him differently if he had a handful of World Series appearances and maybe one ring.

Of course, that being said, if the players around him were good enough to get to the WS, that means his stats would have likely improved because he'd have protection in the lineup.

 

Right there with you, him and johnny Ray (don't ask). But I am not sure he was hall worthy, either. That being said, the original question of steroid abusers squashing their chances is a legit one.

 

Speaking to the original question, if you go back and read Bill James' "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame" --- a very good, but very dated book (it came out in 1994) --- he predicted that Murphy would eventually get in due to his reputation with the writers. Not sure that's true now, which I guess gives credence to EB's original premise.

 

What if he'd won a third MVP? At a glance, he should have in 1987.

 

Bill Simmons has the Ewing Theory, where teams prosper when Ewing leaves.

Should be called the Murphy Theory.

Braves w/Murphy: one division title, didn't win more than 72 games his final six seasons. Murphy traded to Philly mid-1990. Braves began record streak of division titles in 1991.

Philly w/Murphy: 77, 78, and 70 wins. Murphy leaves for Colorado after 1992. Phils go to World Series in 1993.

Colorado in 1993: Washed-up Murphy lasts 26 games, retires. Two seasons later Rockies make playoffs.

Dale Murphy played on three winning teams in his career. One went 81-80. None won 90 games. THAT'S why he's not in the HOF.

 

Dale Murphy was a huge phony. Not a nice guy. And one of the original tormenters of femele sportswriters, including getting them banned from locker rooms and dugouts, especially during spring training.

 

I can speak from personal experience that Dale Murphy is likely the nicest athlete I've ever encountered from the major sports. I'm sure he had good and bad days like any other human, but to say he's not a nice guy not correct.