Womack: Dale Murphy would like to see a bigger Hall of Fame
From SABR member Graham Womack at The Sporting News on February 2, 2016, with mention of SABR member Dan Hirsch:
Dale Murphy understands. The Baseball Hall of Fame is one of the most exclusive in sports, with 217 former major leaguers enshrined. Dan Hirsch of TheBaseballGauge.com noted that 3,289 men since 1871 have played at least 10 years, the minimum number of seasons a player must have to be eligible for Cooperstown. Another 15,374 players according to Baseball-Reference.com, have played fewer than 10 years in the majors. Most big leaguers, it goes without saying, will never come close to the Hall of Fame.
Murphy might be in this boat. The two-time MVP and former Braves star topped out at 23.2 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in 2000. If there were a Hall of Fame for nice players, Murphy would have been in ages ago. He was also named as a future Hall of Famer in a Sporting News poll of managers in 1986. But Murphy’s Cooperstown candidacy suffered due to his rapid decline and lifetime stats that fall a notch or two below many Hall of Famers.
Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4693486-dale-murphy-would-like-a-larger-hall-of-fame
Originally published: February 2, 2016. Last Updated: February 2, 2016.