Roger Maris vs Dale Murphy for the Hall of Fame

by Paul Semendinger

January 2025

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NOTE - This article was first published in the IBWAA's newsletter Here's The Pitch on January 18, 2025.

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In the history of Major League Baseball, there are only two non-suspected PED players who have won consecutive Most Valuable Player Awards but who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

These two players are Roger Maris and Dale Murphy. Both have their Hall of Fame supporters, but neither has gained entry yet.

To see which of the two has the better case for the Hall of Fame, I decided to take a look at their careers to see which of the two is more deserving of the Hall of Fame:

Seasons Played: Dale Murphy 18, Roger Maris 12

Hits: Murphy 2,111, Maris 1,325

Runs: Murphy 1,197, Maris 826

Home Runs: Murphy 398, Maris 275

Runs Batted In: Murphy 1,266, Maris 850

Batting Average: Murphy .265, Maris .260

On-Base Percentage: Murphy .346, Maris .345

Slugging Percentage: Maris .476, Murphy .469

OPS: Maris .822, Murphy .815

OPS+: Maris 127, Murphy 121

WAR: Murphy 46.5, Maris 38.3

Black Ink: Murphy 31, Maris 18

Hall of Fame Monitor: Murphy 116, Maris 89

Home Run Crowns: Murphy 2, Maris 1

RBI Titles: Murphy 2, Maris 1

Gold Gloves: Murphy 5, Maris 1

30/30 Seasons: Murphy 1, Maris 0

Total Bases: Murphy 3,733, Maris 2,429

All-Star Seasons: Murphy 7, Maris 4 (they were both seven-time All-Stars, but in Maris' day in some seasons there were two All-Star Games)

By JAWS, Dale Murphy ranks as the 27th greatest center-fielder ever. That's not great. There are a host of players ranked above him who are not enshrined, who should be (Kenny Lofton and Andruw Jones, are two examples), and some (Chet Lemon) who no one sees as a Hall of Famer. But even here, Murphy's case is better than Maris, who ranks 60th among right-fielders.

Conclusion - One can break down the numbers in a plethora of different ways, and while a case can be made for both players, it is abundantly clear that of the two, Dale Murphy was the better player for a longer period and more deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Roger Maris had a great peak, he set an extremely-impressive home run record, and he played on a host of championship teams, but his career pales in comparison to Murphy's.

Dale Murphy, of course, was never a world champion. He played, in fact, in only one post-season series. But, overall, Murphy's career totals are much more impressive than Maris'.

Finally, as I have argued many times, if players can be kept out of the Hall of Fame for character issues, players of exceptional character, like Dale Murphy, should have their candidacies elevated. Character cannot just be a budgeon to use against some people, for good people it should also build up their case.

Both Dale Murphy and Roger Maris were great players, but of the two, Dale Murphy more deserves election to the Hall of Fame.

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Paul Semendinger is the editor-in-chief of Start Spreading the News. He is the Vice President of the Elysian Fields Chapter of SABR. In early January, Paul completed the Dopey Challenge at Disney World completing four races in four days, including the WDW Marathon, in races totaling 48.6 miles.