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The Crime Dog Goes to Cooperstown

If you were a kid who loved baseball in the late 80s and 90s (like I was), Fred McGriff was a household name.  Given the number of high profile sluggers who defined the era, somehow McGriff got lost in the shuffle.  In recent years, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Jim Thome. Larry Walker, Chipper Jones and Mike Piazza were inducted into the Hall.  How does the Crime Dog stack up against his contemporaries?

Home Runs

  1. Griffey       630
  2. Thome       612
  3. Thomas     521
  4. McGriff      493
  5. Jones         468
  6. Bagwell      449
  7. Piazza        427
  8. Walker        383

RBIs

  1. Griffey     1,836
  2. Thomas  1,704
  3. Thome    1,699
  4. Jones      1,623
  5. McGriff   1,550
  6. Bagwell   1,529
  7. Piazza     1,335
  8. Walker     1,311

Batting Average

  1. Walker  .313
  2. Piazza .308
  3. Jones .303
  4. Thomas .301
  5. Bagwell .297
  6. Griffey .284
  7. McGriff .284
  8. Thome .276

Total Bases

  1. Griffey 5,271
  2. Jones 4,755
  3. Thome 4,667
  4. Thomas 4,550
  5. McGriff 4,458
  6. Bagwell 4,213
  7. Walker 3,904
  8. Piazza 3,768

OPS

  1. Thomas  .974
  2. Walker     .965
  3. Thome    .956
  4. Bagwell   .948
  5. Jones      .930
  6. Piazza     .922
  7. Griffey     .907
  8. McGriff    .886

WAR

  1. Jones       85.3
  2. Griffey      83.8
  3. Bagwell    79.9
  4. Thomas   73.8
  5. Thome     73.1
  6. Walker     72.1
  7. Piazza     59.5
  8. McGriff   52.6

Career Highlights

After looking at some of these stats, it seems clear that McGriff easily hangs with his Hall of Fame contemporaries.  The Crime Dog was a five time All-Star (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000) and a three time Silver Slugger (1989, 1992, 1993).  He was a critical piece of the 1995 Atlanta Braves World Championship team.

Fred McGriff was drafted in the 9th Round of the 1981 Draft by the New York Yankees, out of Jefferson High School in Tampa, Florida.  He would go on to play 19 years in Major League Baseball with the Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Rays, Cubs and Dodgers.

He was voted in unanimously (16/16) by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee on December 4.  Fred McGriff will be officially inaugurated into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July of 2023.

Brian is a Senior Editor at Legends on Deck. He's been writing about baseball for LOD since 2017 and is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association.

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