Braves great Dale Murphy one of 10 named to HOF's Modern Baseball Era ballot
No player had more total bases in the 1980s than Dale Murphy's 2,796 and he he lead all outfielders in the decade with 308 and RBI with 929.
Four years after he fell off the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, Braves great Dale Murphy is getting another shot at induction.
The two-time MVP outfielder was one of the 10 names announced Monday for the Modern Baseball Era ballot, which will be voted on and revealed Dec. 10 at the Winter Meetings.
"So honored to be on this ballot!" Murphy tweeted. "Thank you, Hall of Fame! And a huge thx from the Murphy Family to all of you who have been so supportive!"
https://twitter.com/DaleMurphy3/status/927617597377355776
Joining Murphy are Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Marvin Miller, Jack Morris, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, Luis Tiant and Alan Trammell. Miller, who was head of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966-82, is the only non-player on the list.
Any candidate who receives votes on 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 16-member committee will be inducted into the HOF on July 29, 2018.
A seven-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner, who spent 15 of his 18 seasons in Atlanta -- he also played for the Phillies for three years and Rockies for one -- Murphy hit .265/.346/.469 over his career with 398 home runs, 350 doubles and 2,111 hits in all.
Add Murphy's 161 stolen bases to those HRs, doubles and hits, and he is one of only 19 players in history with those counting numbers. All but seven of them -- Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Barry Bonds, Carlos Beltran and another Braves icon, Chipper Jones -- are already in Cooperstown. Jones, of course, is expected to hear his own name called for the 2017 class in his first year of eligibility.
Drafted with the fifth overall pick in 1974 as a catcher, Murphy spurned Arizona State to play for the Braves. But he struggled with a mental block when it came to throwing runners out -- he had six errors in 18 games in 1977 and threw out just 17 percent of runners -- and was moved to first base, where he committed 20 errors in '78 and 15 in '79.
But his potential at the plate was too alluring and before the 1980 season, Murphy received a phone call from manager Bobby Cox, who along with minor-league coach Bobby Dews had an idea: the outfield.
"My throwing, I wasn't all that accurate out there, but you get in the outfield, you're relaxed, your throws are longer," Murphy said for 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout.' "I was like, 'Dang, this is great. I'm really contributing defensively. What a shock?’ And it helped me offensively. It kind of settled me down. I had a position. I felt like I could stay." Stay he most certainly did.
In his first MVP season of 1982, Murphy hit 36 home runs with 109 RBI and stole 23 bases, then followed that with 36 more HRs, 121 RBI and 30 steals in '82 to claim another MVP.
From 1982-85, Murphy played in 162 games every season, more than any other player in that span, and hit new fewer than 36 home runs in that four-year run.
In those four seasons, Murphy had a combined 158.1 offensive WAR, trailing only HOFers Rickey Henderson (169.6) and Eddie Murray (162.0) and no player had more total bases in the 1980s than Murphy's 2,796 and he he lead all outfielders in the decade with 308 and RBI with 929.
That all wasn't enough to get Murphy in via the traditional route of the Baseball Writers Association of America votes, though he see a growing support in 2013, his 15th and final year of eligibility.
With the support of his eight children, who used different means of pushing Murphy's candidacy -- including a cartoon from one of his sons -- Murphy received 18.6 percent of the vote. While it was a 4.1 percent improvement from the year before (and the highest since he drew 23.2percent in 2000) it was a far cry from the 75 percent needed for enshrinement.
Now, another opportunity at the Hall has come calling in the former of the Era Committees ballot, where candidates remain eligible in perpetuity.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His books, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners.' are now available.
