Oct 29, 2009

A Closer Look at a True Legend of the Game


This week I received a Google Alert about a website that posted a video on Andre finishing his career with the Marlins and life after retirement titled "Andre Dawson: A Florida Legend."

I thought I would share this video with my fellow Hawk fans. If you follow the Marlins, you've probably seen this before, but for those who haven't it's an interesting little video that shows a different side of Andre. Enjoy!

Click here to watch video!

Oct 19, 2009

Andre Vs. the Hall of Fame Pitchers

A good way to evaluate whether a hitter is Hall of Fame worthy is to see how he did against the very best. Any Major League hitter could hit against a pitcher such as Anthony Young (record holder for most consecutive losses with 17), but what about against a crafty left-hander like Steve Carlton or against a Nolan Ryan fastball?

Andre faced eleven current Hall of Fame pitchers during his career: Carlton, Ryan, Tom Seaver, Phil Niekro, Bruce Sutter, Dennis Eckersley, Don Sutton, Fergie Jenkins, Rich Gossage, Gaylord Perry, and Rollie Fingers. How did he fare?

In 473 at-bats, Andre had 126 hits, 15 home runs, 70 RBIs, 9 triples, 29 doubles, and a .266 average. Keep in mind that his .266 average is against the very best of his time. Pretty impressive, but the stat that I like the best is that 42% of his hits against the HOFs were for extra bases. Andre got it done when stepping up against the elite.*

His numbers are better or equal to other HOF hitters of his time who faced several of the same HOF pitchers.

Jim Rice (429 AB) - .247 avg., 24 HRs, 70 RBIs, 106 Hits
Dave Winfield (493 AB) - .284 avg., 19 HRs, 65 RBIs, 140 Hits
Reggie Jackson (514 AB) - .235 avg., 23 HRs, 62 RBIs, 121 Hits
Mike Schmidt (475 AB) - .234 avg., 28 HRs, 72 RBIs, 111 Hits
Eddie Murray (258 AB) - . 291 avg., 10 HRs, 40 RBIs, 75 Hits

By the way, did you know that only two players hit more home runs off of Ryan, the most feared pitcher of all-time, than Andre? The Hawk hit four homeruns off the Express in his career, Schmidt hit five and Will Clark had six.*

Hopefully in 2010, Andre will once again face those eleven HOF pitchers, not on the playing field, but as a fellow Hall of Famer!

*www.baseball-reference.com

Oct 9, 2009

The Proof is in the Pudding, Where Andre Ranks in the Top 100


If I told you a that baseball player ranked in the top 100 all-time in home runs, RBIs, runs, and hits, you would agree that player should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, yes?

Well, then by that definition, Andre is a Hall of Famer.

Let's take a look at where Andre falls in the top 100 of several offensive categories.*

Home Runs - 36th (438)
RBIs - 34th (1,591)
Runs - 93rd (1,373)
Runs Created - 76th (1518)
Hits - 45th (2,774)
Singles - 100th (1,735)
Doubles - 48th (503)
Extra Base Hits - 24th (1,039)
Total Bases - 25th (4,784)
Times on Base - 96th (3,474)
Sacrifice Flies - 10th (118)
Intentional Base on Balls - 50th (143)
Hit By Pitch - 48th (111)

Wow, that's a lot of categories to rank in the top 100 in!

Minus pitchers, there are 161 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame.** If Andre ranks in the top 100 in all of these categories, how can you argue that 61 of those players were better than him? I don't think you can.

* www.baseball-reference.com
** www.baseballhalloffame.org