Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ALPINE — Major League Baseball announced its Hall of Fame vote Wednesday, and for the first time since 1996 no one received enough votes to get in.
That includes Alpine's Dale Murphy, who was a star with the Atlanta Braves in the 1980s — and this was the last year he was eligible.
"To be honest with you, I thought I'd have more support than I did over the years," Murphy said Wednesday afternoon.
The former National League player received 19 percent of the vote from baseball writers — far short of the 75 percent needed to get in to the Hall of Fame. But in typical Dale Murphy fashion, he's not mad.
To stay on the ballot for 15 years — it doesn't happen that often, so you have to have enough support to stay on there.
–Dale Murphy, former MLB star
"To stay on the ballot for 15 years — it doesn't happen that often, so you have to have enough support to stay on there," he said.
Thing is, no former players were voted in this year. Steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa were denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame.
Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote, Clemens 37.6 and Sosa 12.5 in totals announced Wednesday by the Hall and the Baseball Writers' Association of America. They were appearing on the ballot for the first time and have up to 14 more years to make it to Cooperstown.
Even if it wasn't him, Murphy wishes someone would have gotten in.
Related:
Steroids fallout: No BB Hall for Bonds, Clemens
No one was elected to the Hall of Fame this year. When voters closed the doors to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, they also shut out everybody else."I don't think it's good for baseball to have nobody go into your Hall of Fame," he said. "I mean, it's a day you get to celebrate the game."
One thing Murphy is disappointed in that so much of this vote centered around players suspected of taking steroids.
"I think careers should have been discussed a lot more and debated a lot more, like Jack Morris or Tim Raines or Lee Smith," he said. "But all the talk is about the guys who were on steroids, and that takes away a better debate for guys that should go in."
Still, Murphy was delighted about his children campaigning for him, sending letters to baseball writers. And even though he can't be voted in the normal way, the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, in a couple of years, can vote Murphy in anyway.
"Some people think I have a better profile to get in that way. We'll see what happens," he said. "It's great to be considered, and maybe there will be some good news in a couple of years."
Contributing: Associated Press
