When the news came out Wednesday afternoon that Andre Dawson was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame (no word ‘baseball’ needed, right, Mike?) I got thinking: Was Andre Dawson that great a player that he deserves to be in the Hall. And then I saw this video made last January:
And all kidding aside, seeing the Hawk in his Cubs uniform blasting one out to Waveland Street in the sunshine at Wrigley Field (homer in 1987, lights installed at Wrigley in 1988) and seeing how damned good he looked in a baseball uniform (any uni even his original Montreal Expos monstrosity) and seeing how good he looked on the baseball field (yes, even at awful Olympic Stadium) and recalling how well he represented the game with dignity and grace and courage for 21 seasons, and remembering how he compiled some pretty impressive statistics despite playing on no knees for the last 10 seasons or so and I have to agree:
Andre “The Hawk” Dawson is a Hall of Fame baseball player.
And thanks finally to the baseball writers, most of whom are so caught up in themselves (not our Mike Shalin, for sure) that they lose sight of some great players who deserve to be inducted (my biggest peeve is that Gil Hodges still is not in even with a vote from the Veterans’ Committee, a confederacy of dunces if there ever was one).
Dawson Highights: 438 pre-steroid era home runs; more than 1,000 extra base hits; a wonderful throwing arm that kept his assists totals lower than they could have been because no one ran on the Hawk; 8 Gold Gloves; one Rookie of the Year; one Most Valuable Player (that ’87 season with the Cubbies) and 314 stolen bases.
The stat-heads tell us that he was the only with this many of this and that many of that who wasn’t in the Hall of Fame. Now he is and I’m glad of it.
The other piece of news is that the Hall voters, all members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, are still idiots even if they got this one right. Bert Blyleven got closer this year than ever before and perhaps he’ll make it next January. Does he belong? I don’t think he does but he’ll probably get in because those guys will tell each other that he does and rather than voting for the man, they’ll vote with their friends.
Robbie Alomar came close on his first try and he’s sure to get the votes by next year or the year after. My super smart friend Amber Johnson thinks that Alomar’s spit in the eye of Umpire John Hirschbeck in 1996 was too long ago for it to have stopped at least 8 voters from choosing him (that’s how many more he needed). I think she may be right and she said that those guys probably were ‘slapping him on the wrist’ and will vote for him the next time. If Amber says it, it must be so.
The best sports video is at www.fandome.com.
Tags: Andre Dawson, Baseball Hall of Fame, Bert Blyleven, Gil Hodges, John Hirschbeck, Major League Baseball, Roberto Alomar
January 6, 2010 at 5:31 pm |
This “Amber” person is right, if Tiger Woods can be voted AP Athlete of the Decade based on performance alone, then Alomar’s stats should override a little bit of spit.
January 6, 2010 at 5:50 pm |
Like I said, if Amber says it, it must be so.
January 7, 2010 at 3:56 pm |
Glad you mentioned Dawson’s throwing arm. I was at a game at Wrigley when he threw out a runner trying to go from first to third. The throw was magnificent and the crowd just gasped. Those kind of plays are always better in person and Andre gave us plenty of them.
January 7, 2010 at 5:59 pm |
If the voters just look at batting statistics, how can you judge if he’s a Hall of Famer? Brooks Robinson didn’t get in because of his bat alone, for sure. Neither did Luis Aparicio or Nellie Fox. The Hawk dominated games from right field, just as you say, Arlene. Thanks for the comment.