Dale Murphy should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame and his glaring omission only grows stranger as the years go by. Murphy was a do-it-all player for the hapless Braves of the 1980s, but his résumé is a fit for Cooperstown. He was a seven-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner, four-time Silver Slugger, two-time MVP, and a member of the 1980s All-Decade team. It is next to impossible to find a player as popular as Dale Murphy was and as accomplished as Dale Murphy is while simultaneously not in Cooperstown.
With today's Hall of Fame ceremony, Chris Goforth discussed why he thinks that Murphy should soon get the nod.
This is a player that led the league in RBIs and home runs twice, won five Gold Gloves, and was one of the most popular players in baseball during his stint as the star of the TBS Braves. Over the course of the 1980s, only (Hall of Fame member) Mike Schmidt hit more home runs than Murphy, and only (Hall of Fame member) Eddie Murray had more RBIs.
"You're going to keep out a guy that was apart of the All-Decade team for baseball in the '80s? A guy that was widely considered to be, if not the best, certainly one of the three best outfielders of his generation?" Goforth asked. "Ricky Henderson, Dave Winfield -- Henderson is in, Winfield is in. Murphy needs to be in."
The most shocking thing is not that he's not there, it's how little support he garnered during his time on the official ballot (1999-2013). In that period, he never received more than 23.2 percent of the votes.
Pair that oddity with a few of the players now picking up nods, and Chris Goforth believes the door is opening for Murphy: "If you're going to start putting in the Gil Hodges and Jim Katz of the world, Minnie Minoso," Chris started, "Then Dale Murphy needs to be in Cooperstown. If you're going to open the doors that wide, then you need to put Murphy in."
Cooperstown asks its voters to decide based on a player’s record, ability, integrity, and sportsmanship. Try to find a player that checks those boxes as well as Dale Murphy and isn't in the Hall of Fame.
The truth is, you probably can't.