Dale Murphy paints mid-80’s Atlanta Braves as collusion victims

After 1987

The ’87 season was Dale Murphy’s last really good season.  In ’88 his production dropped from that 7.7 bWAR to 3.1 and then 1.6 in 1990… never reaching even that level again.

The 1988 Atlanta Braves added a young Ron Gant, but while the ’87 team already sported 4 regular hitters with .800+ OPS production, the ’88 club had none who even surpassed .760.

The pitching seemed to improve a bit with Mahler and Zane Smith returning while Glavine and Pete Smith joined them.

Some 21-year-old kid named Smoltz also came in for a dozen unremarkable starts at the beginning of his career.

Takeaways

This review is actually a bit disappointing on multiple levels.

• ON THE FIELD.  While it’s reasonable to believe that at least one of the Dawson/Raines pairing might have been a strong candidate to be brought in as a free agent – in a normal market year – it seems clear that Atlanta needed more (perhaps much more) just to turn a last place club into something truly competitive… never mind a playoff contender.
• OFF THE FIELD.  It’s still remarkable to me that these owners allowed themselves to sign on to a scheme that basically insured few changes in team construction for 3-5 years,  Moreover, there was an arrogance about the behavior – a belief that they could get away with it without consequence.  Instead, it has had a generational impact on the relationships and attitudes between ownership and the player union… and not a good impact at all.
• ABOUT THE COMMISSIONER.  Ueberroth became MLB Commissioner after the running the1984 Los Angeles Olympic games – said to have been the first modern games to have been operated at a profit.
  • Some of his penny pinching ideas may have come home to roost via MLB.  Had no collusive behavior been done, owners might have paid extra star salaries totaling in the low millions of dollar.  In the name of saving a relative few bucks, owners were rightly socked with total penalties above 9-figures.

Marvin Miller, the MLBPA lead since 1968, spoke out strongly on the matter, saying that the collusion was “tantamount to fixing, not just games, but entire pennant races, including all post-season series.”

He was right.  Whether the Atlanta Braves would have won anything with a different playing field is almost not relevant, for all teams would have had their own Dale Murphy stories.

In total, Murph was right – it was a very bad black eye to baseball:  one that better never happen again.  You can still read the sensitivity of the union to the topic given the swift (and over-the-top) reaction to Alex Anthopoulos’ comment of a few weeks ago.

At the same time, the immediate clarification from the Braves also reflects recognition that the owners absolutely do not want to be perceived to be operating in that manner ever again.

Dale Murphy just wanted a fair shake.  And now, 30+ years later… that wound hasn’t healed.