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Originally Posted by darkhorse
He was a great player. Dale Murphy's reign coincided, and was actually longer. From 82-87, Muscles whupped ass and seemed a mortal lock for Cooperstown.
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It all comes back to, should a player get bonus points for having his career cut short by injury, or should the ability to stay healthy play a factor. If you are in the bonus points camp, then Mattingly gets in, if you are in the ability to stay healthy camp, then he does not.
One problem with Murphy is his .265 career average. He had a .279 career average after 1987, but then batted below .252 for 6 straight seasons. If you compare Mattingly with Murphy, Murphy had a better peak, but Mattingly's career peaked in his early 20's while Murphy peaked from 26 to 31 like you are supposed to do. If Mattingly had managed to avoid injury, who knows what kind of numbers he would have put up in his late 20's.
Did Murphy get hurt during the 87-88 offseason? His numbers after that great 87 season dramatically fell off.