Happy Birthday to Fred McGriff, “Crime Dog”, one of the most recent Hall of Fame inductees. Playing 19 seasons at First Base, McGriff made a lot of stops playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, the San Diego Padres, the Atlanta Braves, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Chicago Cubs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. McGriff was a power hitter playing in the Steroid Era, in which he didn’t do any. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1986-2004):

.284 BA 2,490 HITS 493 HR 1,550 RBI .377 OBP 1,349 RUNS

  • 5x All-Star
  • 3x Silver Slugger
  • 1995 World Series Champion

Playing in the Steroid Era overshadowed his career, which was a good one. As a Left-Handed hitter, McGriff was the first player since the dead-ball era to lead both leagues in Homeruns, 36 in 1989 with the Blue Jays and 35 in 1992 with the Padres. McGriff was a slugger, regardless of the team he was on. Ten times, McGriff hit 30 or more Home Runs with five different teams. Also, McGriff drove in 100 or more RBIs seven times in his career. While McGriff only betted .300 or higher four times, his OBP was .360 or higher fourteen times in his career.

Defensively, the only position McGriff ever played was First Base, in which he recorded a lifetime .992 Fielding Percentage. Along with being durable throughout his career, he ranks 3rd in most games at the position with (2,239) and in Double Plays recorded with (1,775). McGriff is also 9th all-time in Assists at First Base with (1,447). While McGriff never won a Gold Glove, he was a very good to great defensive player at First Base. 

His time with the Braves was the highlight of his long career, playing in the postseason every year. Acquiring McGriff may be one of the greatest trades in franchise history because, over the next four and a half seasons in Atlanta, he appeared in 45 playoff games in which he went 54 for 167 (.323 BA) and drove in 34 RBIs—also, being a vital part of the Braves winning the 1995 World Series. So, McGriff was a big game player.

McGriff, playing as long as he did, finished his career with 493 Home Runs, shy of the magical milestone of 500. You’d think that by only being seven shy, the writers would’ve still put him in, but he never received enough votes to be inducted. Playing in the Steroid Era overshadowed McGriff. Looking at his career, he only has two “Black-Bold Fact Type” stats by his name and only finished top-5 in the MVP voting once. What also didn’t help was being all over the place playing for six different teams over nineteen years. Now, sure, you’d want to see a guy play for one or two teams during that time, but to me, the fact that wherever he went, he played well is even more impressive. You can consider McGriff a little bit of a compiler, and while he didn’t hit the 500th Home Run milestone, when you are that close to it, also having over 1,500 RBIs, as well as many years of consistency, you’re a Hall of Famer in my book. He never received more than 39.8% of the vote on the BBWAA ballot. However, this year, he was enshrined from the Veterans Committee ballot. 

References:

  1. Fred McGriff via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_McGriff#
  2. Fred McGriff Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcgrifr01.shtml