I agree that Dale Murphy was a heckuva player for a number of years. Hell, I even actually own his Topps rookie card.

The knock on him is that his stats didn't quite reach the (at one time) first ballot HOF threshold of 500 HRs, or even the 400 HR mark that would typically put someone in solid running for the HOF for more than a few years. I agree that playing for the Braves back when they were doormats certainly had a deleterious effect on his HOF chances. So too is the perception that his stats were inflated somewhat by playing in the "launching pad" that was known then as Fulton County Stadium.

But guys like Murph not getting in is all the more reason why Moose shouldn't get inducted. Moose was never at the forefront of the discussion of "who is the best pitcher in baseball" the way Clemens, Maddux, Randy Johnson, etc. were. Moose was always in the pool of "best pitchers after the top 3 or 5". For the steady, but not quite spectacular, players to get in the HOF, they need to achieve the "magic" thresholds (300 wins, 3000 hits, used to be 500 HRs) to get inducted. The spectacularly dominant guys can get in with similar or even lesser numbers than Moose's, but they have to have had a bunch of seasons of stellar play to do so.