Known as the “Crime Dog” to his baseball compatriots, Fred McGriff was a dominant slugger and first baseman from 1986 to 2004, playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. McGriff was a five-time All-Star and one of only a few players to lead both the American and National Leagues in home runs (the AL in 1989 with the Blue Jays, the NL in 1992 with the Padres). McGriff ended his career with 493 home runs, currently tied with Lou Gehrig for 28th all-time.
Fred McGriff Hall of Fame Profile
Early Years:
Early in his career, McGriff was noted for being a part of two historic trades in MLB history. Drafted in the 9th round by the New York Yankees in the 1981 draft, he was blocked by Yankee great Don Mattingly at first base, so New York dealt him, along with Dave Collins and Mike Morgan, to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dale Murray and Tom Dodd. This trade would go down as possibly the worst deal the Yankees made in the George Steinbrenner era. Then, in 1990, after McGriff led the American League in home runs in 1989, Toronto dealt him and Tony Fernandez to the San Diego Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. Both players would be part of the cornerstone that won the Blue Jays back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-93, with Alomar becoming a future Hall-of-Famer and Carter hitting one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history.
Atlanta Braves:
Despite already making a name for himself early in his career, McGriff’s most successful campaign would come during his five-year tenure with the Atlanta Braves. McGriff was dealt to the Braves in July of 1993 and immediately caught fire for Atlanta, pun intended. The night of McGriff’s first game in Atlanta, the press box in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was ablaze, which would delay the game. McGriff would keep the fire going for Atlanta, using his windmill swing to launch an eighth-inning home run drilled to right-center field.
Atlanta won the game 8-5, then rode Crime Dog to their third of fifteen straight division titles, edging the 103-win San Francisco Giants by one game and starting the talk around the MLB for a extra playoff spot. The wild-card would eventually be the result. McGriff would appear in three All-Star games wearing a Braves uniform, and scored the first run for Atlanta, a home run off of Orel Hershiser, in Game One of the 1995 World Series. The Braves would end up winning the series four games to two against the Cleveland Indians, their first and only championship in the city of Atlanta and McGriff’s only title of this career.
HoF Prognosis:
McGriff would later finish his career playing in his home town of Tampa, Florida with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he and future Hall-of-Famer Wade Boggs were brought in to help draw crowds to the new Tropicana Field and provide leadership for a new franchise. McGriff is the still the all-time win shares leader in Tampa Bay Rays history. McGriff was a great player and had enormous impacts in the histories of several different franchises. He also played a major part in changing the format of the MLB postseason. That kind of legacy belongs in the Hall of Fame.
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