Should Andre Dawson Be a Hall of Famer?
We talked the other day about Bert Blyleven’s case to make the Hall of Fame (voting announced today at 2 pm). Let’s look at The Hawk.
He debuted on the ballot in 2002 with 45% of the vote, and last year received a career-high 67% of the vote (you need 75%). So he’s getting there, and last year he had the most votes of those that fell short.
“I’ve talked to a lot of Hall of Famers, and they’ve echoed the same sentiments,” Dawson told MLB.com in a recent interview. “They say, ‘You’ve just got to be patient. It’s eventually going to happen.’ ”
The case is basically simple…
- 400+ home runs and 300+ stolen bases has been done by three players: Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Andre Dawson. Mays is one of the greats among the greats, Bonds is too (statistically, saying nothing of the other stuff), and then Dawson learns his fate today.
- He won eight Gold Glove Awards.
- He won the 1987 NL MVP on a last place team (see below).
The case against is made by Joe Posnanski on SI.com here, speaking mainly of the fact that Dawson has some low on-base percentages because he never walked more than 45 times in a season.
Ryne Sandberg, who was a longtime teammate of Dawson with the Cubs, pleaded with the writers to elect The Hawk during his 2005 induction speech: No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. Stand up Hawk. The Hawk. I watched him win MVP for a last place team in 1987 and it was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday.
Dawson, by the way, is the only player ever to win the MVP on a last place team.
Jayson Stark says: He, Mike Schmidt and Dale Murphy towered above the rest of the National League in their time. And all you need to know about Dawson’s massive impact was that he won one MVP award and finished second TWICE. He won a Rookie of the Year trophy and eight Gold Gloves. He was the first power/speed combo machine in history to run up 12 straight seasons with double-figure homers and steals. And he sure did spend a lot of years in the who’s-the-best-player-in-baseball debate.
ESPN.com has 12 voters on staff, and 11 voted for Dawson (see here).
If we had a vote, we say yes. Remember too, no player has ever received 67% of the vote and note gotten that call. So maybe today is Andre Dawson’s day. Hopefully it is. Should be interesting.
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