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Dawson Upset Over Hall’s Choice of Caps

Nolan Thomas Written by Nolan Thomas, Thursday January 28 2010
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Despite his desire to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Chicago Cub, Andre Dawson, the “Hawk”, will be inducted into the Hall as a Montreal Expo.

 

On Wednesday, The hall announced that Dawson’s plaque in the Hall would bear a Montreal Expo’s cap. Dawson was upset and disappointed with the fact that he did not have a say in the matter and that he thought hall officials would at least discuss the issue with him in detail before the decision was made.

 

He was hoping for a chance to tell them “what really catapulted me to Hall of Fame status and pretty much what my preference was but I think their decision had been made. It was a little gut-wrenching for me to hear that but it’s their decision.”

 

“I’m disappointed,” Dawson said. “I can proudly say that because Chicago was my preference.”

 

Dawson thought he “would have a little bit more input or I would carry or merit some sort of weight” as to whether he would go into the hall as a Cub or Expo.

 

“It was to my understanding they would make the determination at the consent of sitting down and discussing it with you prior to making the determination and I just thought it would carry a little bit more weight than it did,” Dawson said.

 

Besides his disappointment with the decision, the official Dawson statement released by the Hall of Fame was more considerate of the decision.

 

“I respect the Hall of Fame’s decision to put an Expos logo on my cap, and I understand their responsibility to make sure the logo represents the greatest impact in my career,”

 

Dawson said in Wednesday’s statement. “Cubs fans will always be incredibly important in my heart, and I owe them so much for making my time in Chicago memorable, as did the fans in Montreal, Boston and South Florida, my home. But knowing that I’m on the Hall of Fame team is what’s most important, as it is the highest honor I could imagine.”

 

Dawson is the only player for 2010 to be inducted into the hall. The induction ceremony for Dawson into the hall will be on July 25, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

 

For his first 11 seasons in the majors, Dawson played for the Expos in Montreal, batting .285 with 225 home runs and 838 RBIs. He made the All-Star team three times and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1977.

 

He played six seasons for the Cubs, where he won the 1987 NL MVP award after batting .287 with 49 home runs and 137 RBIs. He also played two years for the Red Sox, and two years for the Marlins before retiring from baseball in 1996.

 

Earlier this month, Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said “you want the logo to represent where this guy made his greatest impact. He was impactful in Montreal. He was impactful in Chicago, and to a much lesser extent Boston and Florida, but it’s more of a case sitting down and collectively make a decision.”

 

The hall stated that Dawson had 1,575 of his 2,774 hits as an Expo, won six out of his eight Gold Glove awards with the Expos and led them to their only postseason series win in 1981 with a five-game victory over the Phillies.

 

Idelson also said it’s the museum’s responsibility to “properly interpret the game’s history. Every Hall of Fame plaque lists all of the teams where an electee played or managed,” he said. “Fans of ‘The Hawk’ in every city in which he played should claim Andre as one of their own.”

 

The Expos franchise became the Nationals and moved to Washington D.C. prior to the 2005 baseball season. Asked if he believed if the hall wanted to preserve Expos history, Dawson said: “The hall clearly stated their major concern was the history of the game.”

 

Originally, players who had played on more then one team during their major league baseball career had the choice of which cap they would wear in the hall. It was the player’s decision and the player’s decision only.

 

Then in 1999, a controversy arose when there were rumors that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were going to pay Wade Boggs if his Hall of Fame plaque bore a Devil Rays logo.

 

Boggs denied the claim, but because the possibility was there for teams to pay players to wear their logo, two years later the hall took abolished the right of a player to choose which logo would be on the cap of his plaque. Boggs was inducted into the hall in 2005 with a Boston Red Sox cap on his plaque.

 

Personally, I think it is a travesty and that the player should have the honor of choosing which team he would like to represent in the Hall of Fame. That is of course, that the player is choosing the team to represent because of his heart and not because of money.

 


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6 comments


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B-DubB-Dub, over 2 years ago said:

Yeah it came from a Philly fan Chriso. We Philly fans don't blame stupid shit like curses and bad luck when we don't win. We blame the bad players. You know, like you should.

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ChrisoChriso, over 2 years ago said:

wow, a philly fan just mentioned that i went from thinking the world is out to get me to being an insufferable jackass.... and it came from a PHILLY fan... go red sox....

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B-DubB-Dub, over 2 years ago said:

Nolan, you called it a "travesty" in your last paragraph and you're a Cubs fan for God's sake. You guys think EVERYONE is against you. Kinda like Red Sox fans before they won the World Series and became insufferable Jackasses. Dawson played MORE than half his career in Montreal and had a majority of his success there. He's an Expo. By the way, what the hell IS an "Expo"???

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ChrisoChriso, over 2 years ago said:

of course dawson should be a cub, even though i think he should go in with a Red Sox cap... players should pick their teams, but some players screwed it up when they started selling it... wade boggs??? a devil ray???

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Nolan ThomasNolan Thomas, over 2 years ago said:

Dub, I never claimed that "I" thought Dawson should be in the hall as a Cub, it was Dawson himself who wanted that and the travesty is that I think the player should have the choice, not the hall. If Rose wanted to be enshrined as a Phillie, then it should be his choice.

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B-DubB-Dub, over 2 years ago said:

Spare me the "travesty" talk Nolan. You don't have a leg to stand on here. Dawson spent most of his career as a Expo and that's how I remember him in his career. Should I claim that Pete Rose should be a Phillie because he helped the team to their first World Series Championship, when he rightfully is let into the Hall even though they'll put him in as a Red? Of course not. Come on now. Just concentrate on your quest to have Steve Bartman's headphones placed in the Hall and leave the memory of the poor Expos alone.