re: Dale Murphy, HOF?? Should be!!!!

What does Dave Kingman have to do with this? He is nowhere near similar to either of Murphy or Dawson, and not as good. Then again, I brought up Raines, who I believe was better than both. And Rice, who is in the Hall now, who I believe is inferior to both.

Look, Dawson’s OBP is terrible. He’s a player that, philosophically, you are never going to convince me of his value because he is the exact kind of player I believe to be grossly overrated: someone who doesn’t walk but has some power and can keep a good BA. But he was an out machine. The basic job of a hitter is to not make outs. Dawson failed at the most basic level of a hitter. He did a lot of other things well, which made him a valuable player, but in my opinion, he’ll never overcome that terrible OBP. I can’t look past it. It’s too huge of a negative.

I don’t think most BBWAA voters care. Dawson won’t get in or not get in based on his OBP. But, if we’re talking my opinion, I would never vote for a guy who couldn’t get on base at a decent clip. Murphy could. Raines was even better (I think Raines’ greatness is completely forgotten, and it’s a shame – same with Whittaker and Trammell while we’re on the subject).