Dale Murphy: My Favorite Mormon

By all rights I should hate Dale Murphy. He's a Mormon convert who almost ran for Governor of Utah as a  Republican. He would not pay for his teammates' dinners if they ordered alcohol of any kind. He absolutely refused to take photos with women who weren't married to him. After retiring, he even began a non-profit focused solely on teaching good sportsmanship to Little Leaguers.

But he was often the lone bright spot of an otherwise forgettable Braves lineup throughout the lean years of the 1980's. Five straight Gold Gloves. Four straight Silver Sluggers. Two MVP nods. Seven All-Star selections.

As an example, let us look at 1985. The Braves finished an execrable 66-96, but the Murph wasn't sitting back and fiddling while Rome burned. Dale led the league in home runs with 37, walks with 90, times on base with 276, and runs scored with 118. If you're one of those statistics geeks with your fancy-dancy formulas and such, Murphy also led the league in Offensive WAR (7.8), Runs Created (131), and WPA (6.3).

Those are just the categories he led in. He was in the top ten of nearly EVERY offensive stat you can think of: slugging, OPS, WAR Position Player, hits, doubles, total bases, RBIs, Adjusted OPS+, Adjusting Batting Runs, Adjusted Batting Wins, XBH, Offensive Win Percentage, Intentional Base on Balls, Situational Wins Added, and Base-Out Wins Added.

So why is he an afterthought to most of baseball?

Two reasons, both out of his control.

First, he peaked hard and dropped just as quick. He played from 1976 to 1993, but was only really productive from 1982 to 1987. To use a simple gauge, his BA went from .247 in 1981 to .287 in 1982, and from .295 in 1987 to .226 in 1988. From the perspective of John Q. Baseball-Writer, that's not what you're looking for in a surefire Hall-of-Famer.

Second, he had the misfortune to retire in 1993, the year after a young coppertop from Pomona, California named McGwire began his... *ahem* workout regimen *cough*.

That's right. The clean-living, drug-free, anti-cheating crusader now has to compete for John Q. Baseball-Writer's ten precious HoF votes alongside the Roid Rangers. 37 homers in a season just doesn't seem all that  impressive compared to McGwire's 70, Sosa's 66, or Bonds' 73 dingers.

If ever there were a Hall of Very Good, I'd put Dale Murphy on the first ballot without question, and I'd imagine most folks who like baseball would be inclined to agree with me.

But can the Murph make it into Cooperstown? Using Bill James' formulas, his Black Ink score is 31, his Gray Ink score is 147, and his Hall of Fame Monitor is 116, all above the HoF average. Statistically, he should be getting his speech ready.

The catch? He's been eligible for the Hall for 13 years, and never cracked 25 percent. He's all but guaranteed his 5% to stay on the ballot, but he's likely to give Blyleven a run for his money as a perennial also-ran.

Do I believe his numbers are good enough? Hell yes.

Do I believe he makes a great ambassador for the game? Hell yes.

Do I think he will get in during my lifetime? Hell... maybe?