Dale Murphy tallies just 14.5% of Hall of Fame Vote

Yesterday, our own Fred Owens wrote a very comprehensive post on the case for Dale Murphy to get into the Hall of Fame. It’s a great read. The same could not be said for Murphy’s bid on actually getting into the Hall or pulling a large enough amount of the vote to make anyone believe that he’ll be getting in anytime soon. The worst part of that is that next year will be Murphy’s final year of eligibility on the ballot.

Murphy received just 14.5% of the total vote.

"Dale Murphy received his highest percentage of Hall of Fame votes since 2002, but the beloved former Braves outfielder will enter his final eligible year on the ballot with little reason to believe he will be enshrined in Cooperstown. Murphy received 14.5 (62 of 539) percent of the votes, his highest percentage since receiving 14.8 percent (70 of 472) in 2002.Murphy will remain on the ballot for a 15th and final time next year. His most encouraging results in the balloting process were realized in 2000, when he received 23.2 percent (116 of 499) of the votes."

For comparison’s sake, the Crime Dog Fred McGriff got 23.9% of the votes this year. Larry Walker received 22.9% and Mark McGwire pulled in 19.5%.

The thing to remember with Hall of Fame candidates that don’t get in, it isn’t like there’s a way to get your face out there and campaign or pull more votes the following year. Yes, certain writers will make the case for certain players. But for the most part, the numbers are what they are and have already spoken for said player.

With yesterday’s inductee Barry Larkin, he initially pulled 50% of the vote; signaling that he would be an eventual choice by the required 75% of the voters.