Eddie Murray
Eddie Murray played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball, earning the nickname "Steady Eddie" along the way, and it fits, since his batting average stayed within a 40 point range for his first 12 seasons, and he missed very few games each season.
His rookie season was 1977, and he started out solid, with a .283 average and 27 homers, and was given the Rookie of the Year award for his efforts. Two years later he helped lead the Orioles to the World Series, and while he was great in the ALCS, with 5 hits and 5 walks in 17 plate appearances, he struggled in the final round, getting only 4 hits in the 7 games.
Over the next 6 years, he became an RBI machine surpassing 110 in each complete season, and leading the league with 78 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He also led the league in home runs that season, the only time he would accomplish that, though he was quite a consistent long ball hitter through his career.
In 1983 he helped lead the Orioles back to the World Series, and was solid throughout both rounds, getting 9 hits in 9 games, including 3 home runs, and he was able to finish the season with a championship ring, the only one he would earn.
He continued to be Steady Eddie for more than a decade with multiple teams, even leading the league in batting in 1990, and he returned to Baltimore late in his career just in time to hit his 500th home run, which made him the third player in history to reach 500 home runs and 3000 hits, joining Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, later to be joined by Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Albert Pujols.
In 1995, at the age of 39, he was able to help the Cleveland Indians get to the World Series, and he hit a home run in each round of the playoffs, even at his advanced age, but he failed to get a second ring, just as he did the following season when he reached the playoffs again in Baltimore, which was the only time he ever reached the playoffs without making the World Series.
Although he was never a superstar, he was a very good player for a very long time, finishing in the top 5 of the MVP voting 6 times, reaching the World Series 3 times, each time in a different decade, and surpassing the two biggest batting milestones by showing up every day and doing his job well, which is why he deserves his spot on this list of the all-time greats.
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