Fred McGriff was a five-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger and won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. In July, he’ll be able to call himself a Hall of Famer.
McGriff was elected to Cooperstown through the contemporary baseball era committee. He received unanimous support from the 16 members of the committee – comprised of Hall members, executives and baseball writers. The group included Greg Maddux, who played with McGriff on the Braves, along with Paul Beeston, who was an executive with the Toronto Blue Jays when McGriff made his debut.
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McGriff got 169 votes (39.8%) in his final year on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot in 2019. The contemporary era committee considers candidates whose careers were primarily from 1980 on. A player needs 75% of the vote to be elected.
Known as the “Crime Dog,” McGriff hit .284 in his 19-year career that ended with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He hit 493 home runs and had a 52.6 bWAR.
He got into the Hall over Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling. Bonds and Clemens’ careers have been tied to the steroid era while writers have refused to vote Schilling in over comments he’s made in his post-playing career.
Each of the three players fell short in January in their final chances with the BBWAA. Bonds received 66% of the vote, Clemens got 65.2% and Schilling got 58.6%.
Don Mattingly was the next closest to election with eight votes of the 12 required to get into the Hall through the committee. Schilling had seven and Murphy had six. Nobody else had more than three.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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