Atlanta Braves legend Dale Murphy on 2018 modern era hall of fame ballot

After failing to gain the favor of the writers, Braves legend Dale Murphy will now get another shot at baseball immortality.

When children of the 1980’s discuss the Atlanta Braves, one name is synonymous with the decade. Dale Murphy was a dominant player in his prime and, unfortunately, became quickly overshadowed by the inflated power numbers of baseball’s asterisk era.

On Monday, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the players to be included on the 2018 Modern Era ballot.

After failing to gain enough votes during his time on the baseball writer’s ballot, Murphy fell off after the 2013 vote. He had been up for consideration since the 1999 season and remains one of only three winners of multiple Most Valuable Player awards not included in the hall of fame. Murphy won back-to-back N.L. MVP awards for the 1982 and 83 seasons. Roger Maris and Juan Gonzalez are the other two players not in the hall with multiple MVP’s.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves 2012 Prospect Review: Joey Terdoslavich
• Braves News: Braves sign Fuentes, Andruw’s HOF candidacy, more
• The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
• Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
• Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves

The one glaring number that many will use as a reason to keep Murphy out of Cooperstown is his relatively low .265 lifetime batting average, but has a higher average than Reggie Jackson, for example. Other’s near Murphy’s lifetime BA mark include Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson (.267).

Murphy played 18 seasons, most with the Atlanta Braves, but also had stops with the Phillies and expansion Rockies. He finished his career hitting .265/.346/.469 and carried an OPS of .815 lifetime. Murphy hit 398 home runs, drove in 1266 runs, scored 1197 times and finished with 2111 hits.

During the 80’s Dale Murphy was one of the most dominant hitters and defensive center fielders in baseball, joining the aforementioned Mike Schmidt as one of only two players to hit 300 home runs during the decade. From 1981 through 1990, Murphy led all of Major League Baseball in both runs and RBI.

No. 3 led the National League in homers and runs batted in twice in his career, and led the N.L. in runs, hits, RBI and runs created during the 80’s. During his 1983 MVP campaign, Murph became the only player in history to carry a .300 batting average, hit 30 home runs, 120 RBIs, score 130 runs, draw 90 bases on balls and steal 30 bases (with fewer than 10 times caught stealing) in a season.

That 1983 season also saw Murphy accomplish a 30-30 season, which was only the sixth time that had happened in the major league’s since the 20’s. That helps put into perspective how so called hall of fame stats can evolve over time and how players from the past can fall victim to inflated numbers of the future during their eligibility vote.

Beginning his career in Atlanta as a catcher, Murphy also transitioned into one of the better defensive center fielders in the game, winning five gold glove awards (1982-86). He was also named an all-star seven times and won the Silver Slugger every year from 1982 through 1985.

So enough about Dale Murphy’s dominance during the 1980’s (and I wasn’t anywhere near finished with the accolades)… it’s now up to a committee of 16 whether the Murph will have a plaque in Cooperstown.

Here is the method for the era voting, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame:

"Any candidate who receives votes on 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 16-member Modern Baseball Era Committee will earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 29, 2018, along with any electees who emerge from the 2018 Baseball Writers’ Association of America election, to be announced on Jan. 24, 2018.The Modern Baseball Era is one of four Era Committees, each of which provide an avenue for Hall of Fame consideration to managers, umpires and executives, as well as players retired for more than 15 seasons."

Others on the ballot for 2018 are Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Marvin Miller, Jack Morris, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, Luis Tiant and Alan Trammell.

Next: Atlanta Braves Triple-A affiliate gives update on new team name

The vote is set to take place on December 10 at the baseball winter meetings at Walt Disney World in Orlando.