Congratulations to Andre Dawson for getting into the Hall of Fame, and as always after the Hall of Fame voting a few short sided characters (who seem to know nothing about baseball) start griping that Mark McGwire isn't in the Hall of Fame.
First of all, I want to give a disclaimer that I DO think that he should be in the Hall of Fame...eventually. I think he is deserving of the Hall of Fame simply because even if he used steroids, allegedly, when he hit all of those home runs, the reality is that the pitchers throwing to him were 'roided up too.
So while I do think he is deserving of the Hall of Fame, I don't think he should go in ahead of others who haven't "allegedly" used performance enhancing drugs. Of those on the list of the current ballot here are the names of those I think are deserving of the Hall of Fame. At the top of the list is Dale Murphy.
When we played backyard baseball as a kid all of the neighborhood kids argued over who was going to be No. 3 Dale Murphy. Dale Murphy was a seven-time All-Star, won two consecutive MVPs, five Gold Gloves, and was a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner. He was two home runs short of 400, hit 44 home runs in a season PRE-ROID era, and every kid growing up in the mid-'80s wanted to be him. How can he NOT be in the Hall of Fame?
Dale Murphy was a home run hitter, period. He consistently hit 30+ or close to 30 home runs per season. Did he stick around longer than he should have? Probably, but I'm sure he wanted that 400 home run mark.
He shouldn't be punished because he stuck around too long, as lots of athletes have done that. He shouldn't be punished because players that played after him, the ones who are freshest in our minds, the ones that "allegedly" used performance enhancing drugs, have had crazy high statistics.
How is it possible that a "clean" player who was twice MVP of the League, and was ranked in the top 10 for MVP two other times, NOT be inducted?
What exactly is the Hall of Fame for if it's not for the most FAME-ous players who played? I would argue that there weren't many more players, if any at all, that were more famous than Dale Murphy in the 1980s.
Following that concept, I also argue the following players who were on the current ballot should be inducted into the Hall of Fame prior to the 'roid era players, in order:
-Barry Larkin (An MVP, multiple All-Star and a key component to the Reds Championships)
-Don Mattingly (An MVP player with a lot of fame in the '80s who played on lousy teams)
-Dave Parker (Heellooo!! MVPee!!!)
-Fred McGriff (A home run hitter for the ages...493 HRs and he finished in the top 10 of the MVP voting six times)
-Andres Galarraga (also finished six times in the top 10 of the MVP voting and was one homer short of 400 with a .288 batting average). Honorable mention for those on this year's ballot are Lee Smith & Tim Raines.
And for those who were not on the ballot that should be...PETE ROSE!!!!! GROW UP MLB!!!
If you want to see the results of this year's ballot check them out HERE .
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