ATLANTA, Ga. – Dale Murphy, the former Atlanta Braves slugger and two-time National League Most Valuable Player. again fell short of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, after a vote by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ended without the consensus he needed Sunday night.
Murphy received just six of 16 votes (37.5 percent) well below the 75% threshold required for induction. In the same vote, only Jeff Kent, the former San Francisco Giants second baseman, was selected to the Hall.
Most decorated player of the 1980s
The result marked another setback for one of baseball’s most decorated players of the 1980s. Over an 18-season career, 15 of those coming in Atlanta, Murphy earned back-to-back NL MVP honors in 1982 and 1983, racked up five Gold Gloves, four Silver Slugger awards, seven All-Star game appearances, and hit 398 career home runs.
That said, voters have long pointed to a steep decline in Murphy’s production after the late 1980s, and that decrease has repeatedly weighed on his Hall of Fame candidacy.
Murphy never received more than 23.2 percent on the initial writers’ ballot and fell short on the past era-committee ballots in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
Still, supporters argued that his peak dominance, awards, and defensive excellence and stature as a clean, high-character player made a strong Hall of Fame case.
As the Baseball Hall of Fame finalizes its Class of 2026, Murphy now must continue to wait, as the current vote all but ensures that the doors of Cooperstown remain closed to him, at least for another year.
