I recently read the warranted gripes by Craig Biggio that cry out and beg for him not to be associated with people, players that cheated on baseball or at the very least, since almost none are proven, the allegation of cheating. I have to wonder if he will ever be vindicated, here is why. Please take a look at the numbers between Craig Biggio and one of my favorite all time players, Dale Murphy.

While I won’t go deep into the stats, Craig Biggio was a lifetime .281 hitter, he hit 291 home-runs, 1175 RBI’s and had 414 stolen bases.  He played 20 seasons and those are pretty impressive numbers. Are they Hall of Fame worthy though? While Craig Biggio was but a noteworthy player for the Houston Astros, he was little else in the rest of the baseball world, right? I mean after all he was not a hobby favorite outside of Houston, any collector knows that. But does that make him unworthy of a Hall of Fame induction?

My contender, and the reason I do not believe that Craig Biggio was singled out because he happens to be in this group of accused cheaters. Dale Murphy. Here are some of his comparable stats, and let me make this noteworthy notation, he has sat on this list of non-Hall of Fame nod players for 15 years. Dale Murphy was a .265 lifetime hitter, with 398 home-runs, and 1266 RBI’s and 161 stolen bases, and he did this with 2 less years of service with three National League baseball teams. The Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Colorado Rockies.

All I am saying is that I do not think in the case of Biggio, the class he keeps this year hurt him, but rather the way the writers vote for the Hall of Fame. This years class has brought shame to the sport of baseball, while some noteworthy players were on this list many of those that were snubbed in my opinion scarred baseball forever. As I look at this list of baseball players 19 on this list in total, and Dale Murphy is the one man on this list that I felt should have already landed a bust at the Hall. For 15 years Dale Murphy has been on the ballot attempting to get into the Hall of Fame. Dale Murphy was a player that played the game clean, hard and by the time his career was over ended up playing over 7 positions much like Baseball Hall of Fame defunct Pete Rose.

Now even though Pete Rose has special circumstances that have not allowed him into Baseball Hall of Fame we all know what those were and we don’t need to rehash them here. I want to concentrate on Dale Murphy a baseball player who played hard, clean and played baseball for one of the worst teams in the 1970’s. It would be hard to dispute that anyone baseball player meant more to their baseball team that Dale Murphy meant to the Atlanta Braves during those non winning years. Yet for 15 years he has not been able to get the amount of votes needed to get into Baseball Hall of Fame, I have to ask those that vote, why? Many say that his numbers are not worthy of the Hall of Fame to some degree I will agree with them, so why is Craig Biggio gripping? But the same way that steroids have stained this year’s ballot we have to look back on players that held pride, family, and a dedication to the game they loved first and center and reward them and enshrine them for however long forever means. Let Dale Murphy into the Hall!!! Bring back pride, hard work and family into the game we so love.