The Baseball Hall of Fame Case for Fred McGriff
There is always much debate over who should and shouldn’t get in when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Contributing to this muck and mire is the following discussion of a player who has always had some support, but never enough to be enshrined. However, he deserves much more consideration. That player is former first baseman Fred McGriff.
The Crime Dog had an exemplary 19-year (1986–2004) major league career with six different teams. During that time he hit .284 with 493 home runs, 1,550 RBIs and 2,490 base hits. He has a career WAR of 52.6, although that number is negatively impacted by his not so stellar work with the glove, which resulted in a -17.3 dWAR according to Baseball Reference.com. With his top-two career comparisons being Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell, he is in great company with an impressive resume. However, about to be on the ballot for a 10th year, he has consistently polled low, always receiving between 11.7 and 39.8 percent of the votes during his ten years on the ballot. Sadly, he fell off the ballot after 2019, when he received his all-time high in votes — but fell short of the requisite amount.
Upon taking a closer look it appears that McGriff has been victimized by having a resume that is every bit as good as a Hall of Famer’s should be, but one that is not as straightforward as many like to see when…
