Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux to vote on Hall of Fame
Two Atlanta Braves Hall of Famers will serve on this year’s Contemporary Baseball Era Committee; McGriff and Murphy are among the eight players under consideration.
It was announced this morning that former Atlanta Braves Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Chipper jones join Jack Morris, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Frank Thomas, and Alan Trammell representing the players on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
Six current or former team executives also serve on this year’s committee; Paul Beeston (Toronto), Theo Epstein (Ted Sox and Cubs), Kim Ng (Marlins), Dave St. Peter (Twins), Ken Williams (White Sox), and Angels’ owner Arte Moreno.
Three media representatives round out the group; author and statistician for the Elias Sports Bureau, Steve Hirdt, sports columnist for the Star Tribune La Velle Neal III, and San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter and former president of the BBWAA Susan Slusser.
Eight players are under consideration this year:
The other suspects candidates
Bonds and Clemens are unrepentant cheats and don’t deserve entry; their greatest, longest-lasting talent is narcissism.
Albert Belle has a shot, but I think it’s a long one and he falls short.
Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame. His political views mean absolutely nothing here. Fangraphs places him sixth in career fWAR. Only Kevin Brown and a PED-fortified pitcher rank higher and aren’t in the Hall.
Schilling is also one of the best postseason pitchers to toe the rubber. Schilling gets in unless he calls the members and says he doesn’t want it.
Atlanta Braves – Fred McGriff
Atlanta Braves fans and writers on this site are split on whether McGriff belongs in the Hall of Fame.
- Last week Mitchell wrote that McGriff was an in-betweener,
- In 2014 and again in 2015, Jeff said Crime Dog should enter the Hall of Fame
I respect Mitchell’s opinion, but in 2013, I wrote this about McGriff.
Fred McGriff had ten consecutive seasons with 30+ home runs for the Padres and Braves. Pitchers didn’t want to see him at the plate with the game on the line. If he’s not elected, Crime Dog should bite the nonvoters hard and often.
I haven’t changed my mind. Baseball is swimming in numbers, but let’s cut to the chase. During an era when players openly cheated while Bud Selig and others turned a blind eye, McGriff was the most dangerous steroid-free hitter in the game. Tom Verducci sums up the case for Crime Dog better than I can.
Atlanta Braves – Dale Murphy
Two weeks ago, Sam said Dale Murphy isn’t a hall of fame player because he doesn’t measure up to past center fielders already in the Hall.
In many ways, the case for Murph resembles that of McGriff. He gets little credit for winning back-to-back NL MVPs and playing so well for that weren’t always good. From 1978 through 1989, the braves finished higher than fourth place three times. In two of those seasons, Murph was NL MVP; in the third year, he finished ninth in MVP voting.
In 2012 I wrote that Murph wouldn’t be selected and why I felt he should.
In order to compare him with his peers during that time I ran a search on Baseball-Reference for players with numbers similar to his. Specifically they had to have: Played 50% of at least 1900 games in LF, CF or RF Had an OBP of at least .350 a slugging % of at least .475 and OPS+ of at least 120 The search turned up one name; Dale Murphy.
My conclusion then and now is that had he played for the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers he would already be in the hall.
The coming ballot is Murph’s last and best chance, but I don’t think he makes it.
A shot in the dark
Rafael Palmeiro is an odd case. Statistically, he belongs, but he wagged his finger at Congress, and it later came out that he used PEDS. The problem with that report is the source, and I never bought into it.
The stats didn’t show a surge in numbers, and Palmeiro wasn’t a dummy. I didn’t believe he was stupid enough to go before Congress and lie as others clearly did.
An extremely reliable source—with no ties to Palmeiro—told me an off-the-record story at the Winter Meetings that convinced me that Palmeiro was indeed a clean player and was tricked into using the steroid when he thought he was taking a shot of vitamin B-12 that led to his suspension and end of his career in 2005. Unfortunately, there would be too many legal ramifications to make the story public.
The last sentence holds true today unless the individual who spoke with Perrotto comes forward, Palmeiro won’t enter the Hall.
That’s a wrap
The 75% rule still applies; each member may vote for up to three candidates but isn’t required to vote for any of them. Unlike the voting by the BBWAA, the committee sits in a room and discusses each player.
I know Chipper and Maddux will push McGriff hard and expect Theo to make a case for Schilling. I don’t know where Susan Slusser stands on Bonds, but I don’t want to believe either PED cheats makes it.
Next. We screamed, we cried, we laughed out butts off.. dark
When the smoke clears, I expect McGriff and Schilling to sit on the stage in Cooperstown next year. If they kick open the door for Big PED and “my- wife-used-them-not-me PED,” they might as well put all of them in.