But consider another way of looking at it...let's say for the decade. Murph was one of the most dominant players of the 80s, IMHO. He hit 308 HRs (most in the majors) for those ten years. (and even with his number tailing off at the end of the decade, an average of 30 a year is pretty darn good.)
Compare that to, say, the dominant players of the 1950s (a golden baseball era)...here's a partial list of players who hit FEWER HRs than Murph over -that- ten-year period: Eddie Matthews, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Roy Campanella.
Furthermmore, I think the "boy scout" stuff -should- count. If MLB is so concerned about their image nowadays, then why not honor someone who was widely viewed as one of the most upstanding and honorable people to play the game?
Considering it's in only one catergory, and even in that one catergory Murph came up short of the standard 500 that usually gets one in, it's a meaningless stat. Dale has far more HRs than Ty Cobb too, perhaps the best player in history. ...and more than Rod Carew, Gwynn, Boggs, etc. These guys obviously weren't HR hitters -- it was their batting average and number of hits that got them in the HoF, and in Cobb's case just overall brillliance.
Murphy's forte was power, but he just doesn't have the numbers (either 500 HRs or 1500 RBis) to make the HoF.
Comparing Murphy to Joe D is laughable. Dimaggio hit 361 HRs desipte playing in a ballpark where the outfield dimensions make Fulton County Stadium look like a Little League park by comparison, and his lifetime batting average was over 60 pts higher than Murph's).
Yeah, he was undoubtedly one of the better players for a stretch of a few years, but not good enough. ....and because of that he'll most likely never get in.