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Andre Dawson is going into the Hall of Fame.
Everyone is thrilled.
Well, almost everyone.
Don’t get me wrong. I really don’t have a problem with Dawson making it in after nine years. In fact, it feels about right. First ballot would have been wrong. First five years still wrong.
Nine, yeah, that’s the ticket.
Dawson put up a boat load of stats over 21 years. Won the MVP one season, made the top 20 voting 6 times. Rookie of the Year in Montreal. Eight gold glove awards. He was one of the best in his era.
But I don’t buy into all this “why did it take so long” talk.
Roll tape on the stats.
438 homeruns. Almost as many as Dave Kingman.
1591 RBI. Just 37 behind Harold Baines.
.279 batting average. Woo hoo.
.323 on-base percentage. Well, there are five Hall of Fame position players (Brooks Robinson, Joe Tinker, Luis Aparicio, Bill Mazeroski, and Rabbit Marranville) who were worse.
314 SB. Just behind, well, 148 other players.
Why, then, do so many people think Dawson’s election took too long? Call it the WGN effect. You’ve got a lot of writers and sportscasters who grew up watching Dawson play for the Cubs when WGN and TBS in Atlanta were the two places most of middle America got to see baseball.
And don’t get me started about Bruce Sutter.
To these writers and fans raised on Harry Caray and WGN, Dawson was great because he had great years with Chicago. Well, one great year to be exact.
1987. 49 HR, 137 RBI, .287.
There were two other 100 RBI seasons in Wrigley. Where fair is fair, foul is foul, and a popup to short left field blows into the bleachers.
I like it when people talk about “feared” hitters. Let me say this up front. Dawson was not “feared”. Pitchers pitch around feared hitters. The Hawk racked up 589 walks in 21 seasons.
Thirty-six a year. Doesn’t sound like much fear and trembling.
What Dawson did, beyond having the good sense to come to Chicago to play ball, was to be very good in a lot of different categories. A true power-speed guy with some longevity.
So, yes, Andre Dawson should be in the Hall. But if he is….
Then Fred McGriff needs to be there. Big time. Tim Raines, who I would argue put more pressure on pitchers than Dawson, needs to be there. Dave Parker, too. When eligible, Jeff Kent and Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield will have stats which compare favorably.
Which is one more reason baseball is a great game. The arguments. My guy is better than your guy. When I was young players were better than today. You should of seen this guy, he’s not in the Hall and he was twice the player of that guy who is.
And when the arguments stop you tip your cap.
And say welcome to the Hall of Fame, Mr. Dawson.
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