What Atlanta Braves player is more Hall of Fame worthy? Andruw Jones or Dale Murphy?

Two former outfielders; two former Atlanta Braves. Both (assuming Andruw gets the lack of votes we think he’ll get) are underappreciated among baseball writers. Both represented different eras and had very different skills sets. But who’s more Cooperstown worthy? Or, are they both worthy?

Let’s take a gander at Dale Murphy. There seems to be this school of thought, at least among Atlanta Braves fans, that if you believe Andruw Jones to be Hall of Fame worthy,  you do not hold Murph in the same high regard.

Now, let me go ahead and clear the air on this before we go any further. I love that the Hall of Fame is voted on by the writers, by humans, by emotional opinionated idiots and non-idiots alike. One of the greatest things about our beloved past time (in my sick and twisted opinion) is the fact that Hall of Fame inductions are not solely reliant on numbers. I understand that this sounds sacrilegious to many, but it’s just the way I feel.

Sure, there are guys who should be in the Hall of Fame who are currently not enshrined. Sure, it pisses me off. Shoeless Joe Jackson should be a damn hall of famer yesterday.

But at the same time, I enjoy that it’s up to imperfect humans to vote for such monumental matters. You see, complaining and debating is like the glue that holds baseball together. It would be no fun if such things were voted on my computers. (At the conclusion of this column, I promise to retreat back to my western North Carolina mountain home for the remainder of winter and let all of you troll me.)

Listen, if baseball Hall of Fame voting were taken out of the hands of idiot baseball writers, then I would never be afforded the incredible opportunity to troll Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick for not having Greg Maddux on his ballot. The thought of such a thing depresses me, if I’m being completely honest.

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Sorry, back to Dale

Dale Murphy was the best hitter during the 80’s, in my opinion. He led MLB in home runs and RBI from 1981 to 1990. (Yes, I know some of you knuckleheads are rolling your eyes because RBI don’t matter. For my thoughts on the controversial topic of driving in runs during baseball games, go here.)

Murph’s also one of only two players with at least 300 homers during the 1980’s (the other is Mike Schmidt).  Dale Murphy was baseball during the 1980’s.

To put some icing on my opinionated cake, Dale Murphy won the NL MVP in 1982 and 1983.And, his 1983 MVP year is the only time in MLB history that a ballplayer threw up a .300 BA, 30 homers, 120 RBI, 130 runs, 90 walks, and 30 stolen bases.

Murph was a 4 time Silver Slugger Award winner (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) a 7 time All-Star (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987), and a 5 time Gold Glove winner (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986). He was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 2000 and nobody will ever wear number 3 in Atlanta (or Marietta) ever again.

To say that Dale Murphy didn’t have a Hall of Fame career is like saying water isn’t wet.

Now let’s talk about Andruw Jones. 

Andruw Jones is the greatest defensive center fielder of all time. That should alone get him enshrined into Cooperstown, but baseball writers aren’t the sharpest tools in the box.

Jones amassed a ridiculous 62.8 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for his career and has the highest defensive rating of all time at his position. But not just any position. At center field.

He also hit home runs. A lot of them; 434 to be exact. Over the course of 17 seasons (most of the good ones with Atlanta), Jones averaged 32 homers a year. And as some of you may remember, he hit 51 of them in 2005.

Back to Andruw’s WAR of 62.8. Here’s the list of players who are already enshrined in Cooperstown with a lower WAR than Andruw Jones: Harmon Killebrew, Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza, Hank Greenberg, Willie Stargell, Bill Dickey, Luis Aparicio, Joe Gordon, George Sisler, Willie Keeler, Tony Perez, Mickey Cochrane, Kirby Puckett, Orlando Cepeda, Ralph Kiner, Jim Rice, Ernie Lombardi, Nellie Fox, and Lou Brock. Jones is a Hall of Famer.

And sure, there have been better offensive center fielders than Jones. But as my good friend, Blake Silvers said, there were better offensive shortstops than Ozzie Smith, but that didn’t keep him away from Cooperstown. Ozzie’s glove got him in. Andruw’s glove should do the same.

The way his career ended was awkward and will not help his chances. In 2007, at age 30, just 10 years into his career, it was like he hit a wall. We all saw it and it was painful and weird to watch. But here’s the thing – For an entire decade  prior to his decline we watched the greatest center fielder (who also hit for a ton of power) to ever walk onto a baseball diamond.

If Sandy Koufax can be a Cooperstown shoe-in for being the most dominant pitcher for seven years (arguably the best 7-year span of any pitcher ever), then Jones should be a shoe-in for giving baseball the best ten years it will ever see in a center fielder.

Next: The Braves' pursuit of 40 WAR

Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones were two completely different players, who played in completely different eras, who had completely different careers, and both former Atlanta Braves belong in the Hall of Fame.