Jul 17, 2009

The Hawk's Intimidation Factor


You know what they say, "If you can't beat 'em, bean 'em," often in Andre's career that was the case. While being hit by a pitch isn't a statistic that comes into consideration for hall of fame induction, it does give insight on how pitchers were intimidated by Andre's power. He was one of the most feared hitters of the 1980s; in fact, he ranked in the top 10 Hit by Pitch stat for the first six years of his career. He actually led the league 4 times in that category.

1978 NL--12--1st
1979 NL--6--9th
1980 NL--6--1st
1981 NL--7--1st
1982 NL--8--2nd
1983 NL--9--1st
1986 NL--6--6th
1987 NL--7--5th
1993 AL--13--3rd
Career--111--47th*

And who could forget one of the most famous beanings of all-time, the July 8, 1987 Beanball Brawl between the Cubs and Padres. Andre had hit two homeruns in a game against the Padres two days earlier. He hit a homer in the first inning of this game, his seventh against the Padres so far that season. During his second at-bat, Padres pitcher Eric Show threw a pitch that hit Andre in the mouth, launching a bench-clearing melee resulting in seven ejections.**

Other than a bloody lip, Andre was fine. And rightfully, Show apologized after the game.

Even the all-time strike-out king was intimidated by the Hawk, "When he's (Andre Dawson) hot there's no stopping him." - Nolan Ryan***

That quote is from a Hall of Fame pitcher, one of the best of all-time, 'nuff said.

* www.baseball-refernce.com
** www.nytimes.com
*** Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible (1991)

6 comments:

  1. "When you hit a home run off Nolan Ryan, he meets you at third base," Dunston said of the Hall of Fame pitcher who intimidated hitters. "But when Andre hit one [off Ryan], he stayed near the mound and waited for the ball. That impressed me a lot. That's respect."

    -Shawon Dunston

    Thanks
    Craig

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  2. Yeah I saw that quote also. I think it was mutual. If Ryan hit you, you don't charge the mound. Robin Ventura found that out the hard way.

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  3. I definitely would not like to get into it with the Hawk (or the Express for that matter)!

    Tai

    PS. Thanks for the comments on my site. Yes, I did design and code it myself.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I picked it up as a hobby. I don't do it as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it when I do get the chance.

    Thanks for the add.

    Tai

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  5. Most "intimidating" players of all-time: Hughie Jennings, Craig Biggio, Don Baylor, Jason Kendall.

    Look at all that intimidation!

    ReplyDelete