By CRAIG MUDER
(Utica, N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - Eddie Murray looked around the plaque room of the Baseball Hall of Fame Monday as if he didn't understand what all this fuss was about. "I never thought about the Hall of Fame because you didn't play to get here," said Murray, who will be inducted into the Hall July 27 as a member of the Class of 2003. "I think about things I control. That's how I went about life."

Consistency, it seems, is still Murray's strong suit. He averaged more than 100 RBIs per year in his first 11 big league seasons and drove in at least 76 runs in 20 of his 21 seasons. He was named to eight All-Star teams and is one of only three players - along with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays - to amass at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

Murray made his first visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame Monday as part of his "orientation tour" - a requisite for all new Hall of Fame members since 1994. These tours are usually given on spring days in May, but Murray requested an early tour so as not to conflict with his duties as the Cleveland Indians' batting coach.

As luck would have it, the weather cooperated with sunshine and temperatures in the high 60s. But the 47-year-old Murray - who rarely spoke with the media during his playing days - resisted any thaw in his emotions.

However, the former first baseman with the Orioles, Mets, Dodgers, Indians and Angels couldn't resist a few zingers at the expense of the most recent Hall honorees - including Gary Carter and Ozzie Smith. "I'm sure Gary will do most of the talking this summer - that's just Gary," said Murray of Carter, the only other member of the Class of 2003 in Cooperstown. "And Ozzie, he's always outshining you by flipping or something."

Murray and Smith graduated from the same Los Angeles high school and just missed entering the Hall together. But while Smith - the lone member of the Class of 2002 - has distanced himself from the game on the field, Murray continues to endure the vigorous travel and endless hotels that make up the life of anyone wearing a Major League uniform.

He knows no other way.

"After traveling for 20 years, it's weird to stay stationary for even a month," said Murray, who will fly back to Florida Tuesday to rejoin the Indians in Winter Haven, Fla. "I know I can help people at this level. We're (the Indians) leading the league in average and runs this spring, so maybe we can stay hot."

One suspects that if the Indians were to stay hot into the summer, the stoic Murray would rather remain in the clubhouse than exhibit himself on a stage in Cooperstown.

"I haven't thought much about my speech or anything," said Murray, who became only the 38th player inducted in his first year of eligibility when he received 85.3 percent of the BBWAA vote in the Jan. 7 election. "Everyone has been congratulating me and telling me how much fun it is.

"Hopefully, it will be fun."