Murphy for ‘07
By dustin
Top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the ’80s and ’90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?
For Stevie Wonder that question might not be so easily answered. When it comes to Dale Murphy’s Hall of Fame credentials it appears as though the answer to that age old pop culture question is much more obvious.
So why is it that Dale Murphy is the only HOF eligible player in history to win 2 NL MVP awards and not be in Cooperstown?
How is it that he was arguably the best player in the sport during the 80’s but isnt considered to be one of the best players of all time?
From 1980 to 1990 the Murph was named to the NL Allstar team 7 times, won 2 MVP’s, 5 Gold Gloves and 4 Silver Slugger awards. He led the league in homeruns, RBI and slugging twice. He also lead the league in base pct., total bases, walks and runs scored. He had 12 - 20 homerun seasons, 6 - 30 homerun seasons, 1- 40 homerun season, 5 - 100 RBI seasons and 4 - 100 runs scored seasons. From 1982-1985 he did not miss a single game. He finished his career with 398 career homeruns.
Many experts agree that the two homeruns he finished shy of 400 might be the only thing keeping him out of Cooperstown. Sure in this day and age of chemically inflated offensive numbers 400 homers is not the benchmark it once was. However, a sub 400 hr career didnt prevent Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, Ralph Kiner, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk from being inducted.
Is it fair to punish the greatest player in baseball for nearly a decade because in his last six seasons he only hit as high as .252 once? Did Stevie Wonder get left out of the Rock and Roll hall of fame in ‘89 despite not having a top ten hit for 4 years? I’ll save you a Google..the answer is no.
Would Murphy be in the Hall of Fame if he had retired six years earlier, had he turned his back on the love of the sport and his competitive desire to continue playing? Would he be in the Hall if he could Mr. 3000 it back to the 80’s, catch a stiffer wind and send two more deep flies on out of the park? The answer to that is irrelevant, because what he did accomplish was good enough.
So, is it in fact better to burn out or fade away? I guess it all depends on whether you are holding a ballot for Cleveland or Cooperstown.
December 7th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Excellent post. That’s the best summation of Murphy’s qualifications for the hall that I have seen. The only fault I find in your argument is the Bench and Fisk references. I don’t think you can compare them heads up just because they were catchers. That said I totally agree with the “he should have quit early school of thought.” I think the same thing hurt Ryne Sandberg. If he would have stayed retired I believe he was a first ballot guy. In my opinion his comeback really hurt his reputation.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
[…] The Murphy 2007 movement came up short. It’s not looking good for Murphy at the moment as he received only 9% of the votes this year. However even if Dale never makes it to the Hall I will always remember him fondly because of this cool poster I had when I was a kid. […]