The Underrated 1st Ballot Hall Of Famer

The Underrated 1st Ballot Hall Of Famer

throughout Eddie Murray’s 21 season career he defined consistency no matter his age 25 home run seasons in solid defense was a given ending with one of the best careers the players ever had despite this many unusual factors prevented him from taking home an MVP so let’s look at Murray’s career and why despite being a first ballot Hall of Famer he may still be underrated totally ask a Eddie Murray was born in 1956 in Los Angeles as the eighth child 12 and this came to his benefit as he said he didn’t have to go far to play a pickup game and also to his benefit his older brothers would not go easy on him and let him win something that he would be thankful for in the long run in his senior year of high school he hit 500 at lock High School in La playing alongside another future first ballot Hall of Famer and Azie Smith he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round of the 1973 draft and quickly proved what he could be at the age of 17 while playing the Appalachian League he had 11 home runs in 50 games with a 495 slugging percentage and an 849 Ops and over the next 3 years he would move up and down levels of the orial system as most do hitting 283 with 63 home runs and a 842 Ops while playing with four different teams and with this he was ready to make his debut in the year of 1977 the oros were already one of the best teams in League before Murray came up led by Earl Weaver they finished second or first in the alast every year from 1968 to 1976 except for 72 when they finished third and things continued with Murray in his rookie season he 27 home runs while hitting 283 with an 803 Ops and 160 games this would be the only year he would strike out 100 times and this was good enough to win Rookie of the Year and a close vote over Mitchell page and Murray helped the Orioles win 97 games that year but it wasn’t good enough to win the alast over the Yankees his next season would be very similar as he again hit 27 home runs while raising his average two points and his LPS 33 points as he made the All-Star team and received MVP votes for the first time as the Orioles had another 91n season but again that wasn’t enough and just in his first three seasons you can see the consistency as 1979 was another similar season that was just a little better in a few categories except home runs as he began to cut down on his strikeouts he again received MVP votes and after two straight years of almost the Orioles were going to the playoffs after winning 102 games with the help of sa young winner Mike Flanigan in the LCS Murray went 5 for 12 with the Home Run and five RB as the Orioles were able to beat the Angels 3-1 to advance to the World Series for a 1971 rematch with the Pirates and in the World Series Murray struggled going four for 26 with the home run as the Orioles lost in seven games to the Pirates just like they did in 1971 and as the decade changed Murray continued to consistently get better 1980 saw Murray make the Aller team again as for the first time in his career he would hit over 30 home runs while driving in over 100 Runners with a 300 average exactly a 300 average an incredible year that helped the Orioles win 100 games and once again not make the playoffs and also saw him finished six in MVP voting in a year where George Brett hit 390 and saw a relief pitcher finish ahead of him a sign of things to come 1981 was a strange Year all around in a split season as a result of the player strike but in 99 games Murray led the league and home runs in RBI at 22 and 78 a big wh if on his career as he was on paage to hit a career-high in home runs and who knows how things would have turned out in a full season as he ended up finishing fifth in MVP voting as Raleigh fingers took home MVP 1982 would be a big year for Murray and the or for Baltimore the biggest part was Kell Ripken Jr playing his first full season in which he would win Rookie of the Year and form a close bond with Murray even saying that Murray was responsible for him developing his work ethic and as for Murray he had his best season yet as he once again hit over 30 home runs drove in over 100 Runners and hit over 300 as he’s had a career high in Ops at 940 while compiling a 5.2 war in many years that would be good enough for MVP but Robin y had an insane year compiling a 10.6 war and Brewers won the American League which also helped his case and that brought things to 1983 the most memorable year for him in the Orioles as he often does steady Eddie Murray took his previous season hit copy paste and changed a few things so it doesn’t look like plagiarism with his third straight 30 Home Run 100 RBI 300 average season not including 1981 with an even higher war and a slightly worse Ops once again he finished second in MVP voting and the one who took the award from him was his friend and teammate Cal rien Jr both put up very similar seasons and arguments could be made for both which is why the vote was so close but ultimately Ripken took it home as Murray won a gold glove for the second year in a row and the Silver Slugger for the first time and when you have the top two MVP candidates goes a long way in the Orioles making the playoffs for the first time since 1979 they would beat the White Soxs in four games in the ALCS as Murray hit 267 with a home run then the team got the chance to redeem themselves after 1979 and they did Murray at two home runs as the Orioles beat the Phillies in five to win what they were so close to so many times since 1970 the Orioles would regress after the season but Murray would not as 1984 was his best overall season taking after his teammate who took the MVP from him Murray played every game that season and while he finished one home run shy of 30 he still drove in 110 Runners with the 306 average and what’s the most remarkable about this season is that he led the league in walks by drawing four balls 117 times with 25 of those being intentional 36 more than the 71 average in his career and because of this he led the league in on base percentage at 410 he also set a career high in war at 7.1 and led the league in Ops plus and base out wins and runs at it and was this enough to win MVP well no this time he finished fourth behind two relief pitchers and someone he best in war by 1.5 points in the years before it’s hard to say if Murray was actually robbed but this year is his best case I talked more about relief pitchers winning MVP in this time more in the previous video and it was a strange time for MVP voting as relievers were a new thing and team success was a huge factor and even on the team Murray might not even have been the best as Kell Ripken had a 10 war and got one vote a very strange vote that Murray was often a part of he would keep on doing what he does in 1985 which was probably his worst full year of the decade so far which is saying a lot he just missed out on hitting 300 and naturally his Ops dropped after not being walked s times he will make the All-Star team for the sixth time and received MVP votes for the a straight year as the Orioles 83 wins were their lease in 12 years he played three more seasons for the Orioles in which he played 458 games and hit 75 home runs while hitting 287 with an 840 Ops 1986 would be his last Allstar season as an orial and also where things began to turn sour with the front office it started in spring training when he accused the team of pressuring him to return prematurely from an ankle injury and in August of that year he would request to trade after owner Edward Williams question his offseason work his defense and his lack of extra base hits essentially calling him lazy a comment that made no sense Eddie also developed issues with the media for false statements that led to unfair treatment and in December of 1988 he was traded to the Dodgers for three players something Baltimore fans considered one of the lowest moments in the franchise’s history the Orioles were coming off 107 Lost season while the Dodgers were coming off a world series title so this was a new start for Murray his first season however was not good as he had a career low on average and Ops but the following season would be historic and pretty weird he had 26 home runs and drove in 95 Runners with a 934 Ops and most notable was his career-high 330 average and if there’s any way to show how unlucky Murray was in regards to season awards then it’s seen here Murray’s 330 average was the highest in the league but Willie McGee was traded from the Cardinals to the A’s at the end of August that year and at that time he was hitting 335 so McGee ended up winning the NL batting title instead of Murray a very unfortunate outcome that would only add to his accolades as he finished fifth and MVP voting he would play one more season for the Dodgers where he would make the All-Star team for the eighth and final time he played two seasons for the Mets hitting 43 home runs and driving in 193 Runners and his aged 36 and 37 Seasons then after that he would sign with the Cleveland Indians right as they were emerging as contenders he once again was affected by a strike as he had 17 home runs and 76 RB at the time the season abruptly came to an end and the main thing is is that it delayed the inevitable as one baseball return in late April of 95 Murray would pick up his 3,000th hit to become the 20th member of the club he would proceed to hit 323 That season with 21 home runs and 82 RBIs in the third shorten season he was a part of and his veteran presence was huge in their playoff run he hit 385 in the three- game sweep of the Red Sox he struggled in the ALCS but they still beat the Mariners in six for Murray’s Third World Series appearance he again struggled in the World Series but he was huge when needed down 20 Murray had a walk-off single in the 11th in game three to keep Cleveland’s hopes alive he would actually only get one more hit in the series that being a home run as the brvs won the series in six in his age 40 season he played half with Cleveland before being traded back to Baltimore in July and exactly one year after Cal Ripken would break Luke er’s consecutive game streak Eddie Murray would hit his 500th home run the first to do it since Mike Schmidt in 1987 the longest Gap since 1960 and this made him the third to ever hit 500 home runs and record 3,000 hits after Willie Mae and Hank Aaron with Rafael Palo Alex Rodriguez Albert PS and Miguel Cabrera doing so after he would end his age 40 season with 22 home runs 79 RBIs and a 743 Ops making him consistent until the end he would help the Orioles beat the team he was just on in the 1996 ALDS though they would lose in the ALCS then he would play one more season in 1997 signing with the Angels playing 55 games with them and nine in Albuquerque he was released by the angels and played nine games with the Dodgers and two in the miners with his last game coming on September 20th he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003 receiving 85.3% of the vote in his first ballot Eddie Murray finished his career with 504 home runs the second most for a switch hitter 1917 RBIs 3255 hits an average of 287 an Ops of 836 and a war of 68.7 as already mentioned he was one of just three to record scored 500 home runs and 3,000 hits at the time he did so and that alone shows how incredible his career was but a few records also show how strange his career was for example he has the most sacrificed flies in his career at 128 one more than Cal Ripken who was second but not once did he lead the league and Sack flies he’s played the most games at first base and is one of only nine players to play more games than his teammate Cal rkin Jr as already mentioned he is the only one to lead the league in average and not win the batting title the only time led the leag in home runs was the short in 1981 season and his career high was just 33 the lowest of any member of the 500 home run Club in fact every member of the 400 home run Club hit at least 34 home runs in a season he also recorded over 3200 hits without ever being in the top five in a season he’s 11th all time in RBIs despite only finishing the top three twice he also has the most RBIs with the bases loaded while hitting 399 with the bases loaded and he’s one of just six players to finish top five in MVP voting and five straight Seasons those other five combined for 19 MVPs Murray didn’t win one but with this it feels as if Eddie Murray is underrated the obvious rebuttal to this is how could a first ballot Hall of Famer be underrated well I think the vote itself kind of shows it of the 601 ballot Hall of Famers 41 received a higher percentage than Murray did in his first ballot that’s not to say Murray’s better than all those players but considering he marked two on the few Milestone boxes that have guaranteed Hall of Fame entrance it’s surprising he didn’t get more votes but then again the Hall of Fame voters have been shown to make no sense there really isn’t a concrete reason why Eddie Murray is underrated it just kind of feels that way and I think his season by- season numbers are a huge reason for that most of the great players have their Peak years where they rack up a majority of their numbers before having a drop off because of age and injuries something almost every player goes through but Murray was consistently great throughout his entire career a 25 Home Run 100 RBI season could be a career year for a number of players Murray did that 10 times even doing so in his age 37 season basically without paying attention Murray’s numbers would sneak up on you and considering not one of these Seasons resulted in Murray taking home an MVP then it’s even easier for him to sneak up on you and it seems as if there wasn’t enough time to appreciate what he did in the first 93 seasons of MLB in the World Series era there were just two players who hit 500 home runs and recorded 3,000 hits in the 25 Seasons after Murray accomplished the feat four other players accomplished it as well more than the first 102 seasons and there was a little bit of power surge after Murray retired when he hit his 500th home run in 1996 he was the 15th to do so 13 have joined him since basically saying the overwhelming amount of Home Run hitters coming after Murray could have overshadowed all he did a little bit of bad timing in this sense and in the sense that once Kell Ripken Jr came up he took the team Spotlight and an MVP from him though he didn’t take his sideburns he also wasn’t the most famous guy named Eddie with the last name that starts with m of his time time he was second behind Eddie Murphy but ahead of Eddie Murray the kicker either way Eddie Murray had an insanely consistent career up there with the legs of Hank Garen it was a weird one in the sense of his season totals and awards but still one of the best along with the best facial hair since the 1800s [Music]

Throughout Eddie Murray’s 21-year career, he was insanely consistent. 30 home run, 100 rbi seasons were an absolute guarantee for him. Resulting in a career with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits with only Hank Aaron and Willie Mays doing so before him. But with this, despite being a 1st ballot hall of fame, Murray still fell a little under the radar. In this video, we look at his career and why he was underrated.

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