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I know Wright Thompson can be an OM blow hard - but articles like this make it hard to dislike him
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...ale-murphy-now
I'm one of those mid-40s guys described in the article. We may have liked other players - but Murph was the one we all lived and died with. That long swing was so pretty when it connected, and so crushing when it flailed at 59 foot curve in the dirt.
He deserves to be in the Hall.
Great article about a great man! Wish Murph would make it to the Hall!
I read this earlier today. It's a great article
I think Murphy should be in the HOF, but it's not a slam-dunk case. He is penalized in the same way Andruw Jones is, that there's something that makes his numbers seem lesser (for Murphy, that his peak came in the dead-ball 80s, for Andruw that it was primarily his defense and he played in the steroid era) and he tailed off so much once he hit his early 30s.
Andruw deserves it more than Murphy, but Murphy probably does deserve it as well. From 1980 to 88, he was great most years, only occasionally simply 'good'.
I kind of look at baseball by decades. If you are Top 5 in a major statistic for a decade, then you should be a HOF lock. Top 6-10 puts you more on the bubble.Quote:
Originally Posted by smootness
Look at HR's Top 5's -
1950s - Snider, Hodges, Matthews, Mantle, Musial
1960s - Killebrew, Aaron, Mays, Robinson, McCovey
1970s - Stargell, Jackson, Bench, Bonds, May
1980s - Schmidt (312), Murphy (308), Eddie Murray (274), Dw. Evans (256), Andre Dawson (250)
1990s - McGuire, Griffey, Bonds, Belle, Juan Gonzalez
The only ones from the 50s-80s not in the HOF are Lee May, Dwight Evans, and Dale Murphy.
Murph is also Top 5 in the 80s in RBIS will 929 (Murray led it with 996)
Baseball has always been a lot more stuck up about their HOF and not voted for some HOF worthy players.
As far as generational comparisons go, I've always thought looking at how the player separated himself from the rest of the field during their playing days. You can't compare Walter Johnson's ERA stats to Nolan Ryan's HR stats from the dead ball era to the live ball era. That's why I've always considered Babe Ruth the all time Sultan of Swat. Go to MLB.Com and see how typical it was during his 10 yr heyday for him to hit 50 HR's and # 2 would hit 30 or so.
Not only that but he was also one of the best pitchers in baseball before he gave it up to become a full time hitter. Babe Ruth is hands down the best baseball player ever, there isn't a discussion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bully13
That "how did the player separate himself from the field" metric is something I've always felt was wrong about the HOF voting. It is incredibly subjective.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bully13
Look at a guy like Sandy Koufax. He only pitched 12 seasons - the first 6 of which were mediocre at best (he was 36-40). He then dominated for 6 years (6 AS, 1 MVP, 3 CY) and retired. He only won 165 games and everyone always considered him a lock for HOF (Kevin F'n Millwood has more wins). Yet, a guy like Murph who was mediocre for 4 years, then dominated 6 of the next 7 years (6 AS, Back to Back MVP, 5 Gold Gloves), basically gets penalized because of his final 7 years being mediocre and being 2 HR short of 400.
The only thing Koufax did that separated himself from the rest is retire young
I think he deserves to be in the Hall to do nothing but counteract Ty Cobb being a horrible human being. Murph being very good for pretty much a decade along with the class he had playing the game should count for something.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg
Considering there are only 3 guys with multiple MVP awards not in the Hall, it's a travesty. Hell, Roger Maris should be in the Hall IMO.
Bonds the other? And yes, Maris should be too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooterpoot
For those of you who are regulars at the MISS Braves games you might get a glimpse of him there. He does some scouting of the minors for the big braves looking at the top prospects. I met him in Biloxi 2 years ago while he was watching Albies, Swanson was already called up. Great guy.
Juan Gonzalez, but he'll probably be in the same boat as Bonds (roid exclusion). Bonds is considered ineligible, even though he's not really. I should've prefaced my previous statement with that. The roid exclusions aren't counted in that.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooterpoot
Juan Gon is a very under rated player. He really was wasted all those year with the Rangers.
So there are 4 players with multiple MVPS not in the Hall - because Barry Bonds won 5 MVPs and isn't in. That big ole steroid head is keeping him out.
Correct if you count the roiders. The 80's guys get a lot of disrespect from the writers because the roiders blew up the stat sheets after them. If the future, you'll see a lot of 40 HR .240 hitters making the Hall. Guys with outrageous K numbers.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg
I know everyone loves Dale Murphy, but if he gets in the HOF, then someone like Dave Kingman deserves in as well. He had more HR?s in less at bats and same number of RBI?s as Murphy. Neither of them sniffed .300 batting average for career and both had about 1700 strike outs.
I think you have to differentiate between Murphy and Kingman because of the awards. Kingman was an All-Star three times, no MVPS. He was not considered a dominate player of his era. He led the AL in HR twice but never got above 11th in MVP voting even in his best season.Quote:
Originally Posted by msudawglb
Roger Maris should be in the Hall for sacrificing all of his hair during the Mantle / Maris Contest Year among other things.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooterpoot
That's good info on Koufax, either never knew or had forgotten about the specifics of his 12 year stint. I guess it boils down to how many seasons did the player actually perform at All Star level?Quote:
Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg
Yeah - Koufax had a real interesting career. He almost quit after going 8-13 in '60 to go into electronics. He gets in tip top shape for '61 to give it one more go and then goes 18-13. He then rattles off one of the best 5 year stretches of the live ball era and retires with arthritis in his elbow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bully13