Dale Murphy and the Good Guys

[Seven]

Originally Posted by bk400

Dale Murphy was one of my favorite players growing up as a kid. Just a class act. I'm personally disappointed that he seems to have trouble making the Hall. Not to rehash the arguments, but suffice it to say the consensus seems to be that he is on the cusp in terms of the body of his baseball work.

But isn't there a history of "good guys" ultimately making it to the Hall of Fame? I'm thinking Pee Wee Reese. Gary Carter. Fred McGriff. I would have thought that Dale Murphy ultimately makes it in, given that he seems like the ultimate good guy and is unlikely to pull a Lawrence Taylor and do something that embarrasses his legacy and his sport.

If so and he gets enshrined, maybe that short stack of raw 1977 RCs I have sitting in top loaders might be worth something...

Thoughts?

It would not surprise me if Murphy ended up making it in, however I think there are players that are more deserving of enshrinement. The Hall of Fame, and the voting process, is a fickle thing. We've seen plenty of cases in the past, where the Old Veterans Committee started packing the Hall with their friends. Through the various committee's that exist now, I would think Murphy has a decent shot.

To talk about the two of the three players you mentioned, I think you're doing at a minimum, Carter and Reese some disservice. Reese, while absolutely, a good guy, was an elite defensive shortstop, and while lacking in the "counting stats" department, was a very valuable player on offense. While I don't like to use WAR as a be all, end all statistic, he nearly put up 70 WAR, despite missing three years due to World War II.

Gary Carter according to the JAWS metric, (A player's JAWS is their career WAR averaged with their 7-year peak WAR), is second all time, only to Johnny Bench. He was another elite talent.

[bk400]

Thanks, Seven. I appreciate in particular your reminding me that Gary Carter was second only to Bench in his generation of catchers.

Gary Carter was also one of my favorite players -- but I only watched him as a Met. So he's an absolute hero. And totally clutch (Game 6, 10th inning and all that...). And a much better role model for kids than basically everyone else on that 1986 team.

Fred McGriff, to be honest, probably deserved to be in the Hall much earlier. If it weren't for the strike, he'd be in the 500 club for sure.