Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sometimes, eight years are too much. Today, an interminable wait has ended for one of the greatest Cubs of all times. Andre Dawson, HOF.
His Cubby career only spanned six years, but it was marked by the almost unbelievable story of a free agent wanting to come to Chicago so badly, he signed a blank contract and single-handedly proved collusion among MLB owners during the 1986-1987 offseason. And how did he reward the club who he forced to take him on for half a million? How about 47 homers and an MVP season from a player on a last place club.
The legend of The Hawk is well chronicled elsewhere (Here and here for instance), so I won't go into tons of detail, but there really shouldn't have been any doubt about the Hawk, and his election was postponed by years because of the explosion in offensive stats brought about by the steroid era.
So let's ask ourselves this question: Is there any chance that Andre Dawson was 'enhanced' during his career? Sorry, I couldn't pass up the chance for such a ridiculous joke.
The easy answer is no. Hawk was as clean as they come, like his teammates Ryno and Maddog (both current/future HOFers), the late '80s/early '90s Cubs teams were full of guys that parents could feel 100% comfortable letting their kids idolize. With a few exceptions, Andre Dawson was the definition of a classy sportsman, and he was a terrific player. I'm thrilled he'll be going into Cooperstown this summer, and maybe I'll finally make it out there!
Posted by Byron at 3:42 PM
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