Jan 17, 2010

Which Cap Does Andre Look Best In?

Since Andre's election to the Hall of Fame on January 6th, the question a foot has been will he be inducted wearing a Cubs or Expos cap.

What team should an elected player represent in the Hall of Fame has not been a prevailing debate for most of its history. Cal Ripken Jr., not a question, Tony Gwynn, not a question, Ryne Sandberg, not a question, etc. Gone are the days of a player playing majority of his career with one team thanks to free agency.

The reason it has been up for debate in Andre's case is that he spent more seasons (11) in Montreal while putting up majority of his statistics there. However as a Cub for six seasons, Andre rose to national prominence and became one of baseball's most well known ambassadors.

Here's a look at his numbers between the two clubs*:

Montreal Expos 1976-1986: 225 HRs, 838 RBIs, .280 Avg., 1575 Hits, 828 Runs, 253 SBs

Chicago Cubs 1987-1992: 174 HRs, 587 RBIs, .285 Avg., 929 Hits, 431 Runs, 57 SBs

As a Cubs fan I naturally want to see him don the Cubs cap on July 25th.

As an Andre Dawson fan I'm just glad he is a Hall of Famer regardless of the cap he will wear.

But as a blogger, I wouldn't feel right if I didn't share my opinion on this, so here it is.

Top Ten reasons Andre should be inducted as a Cub:

10. MVP trumps ROY. Andre's 1987 MVP award with the last-place Cubs is more impressive than this 1977 ROY award with the Expos. He was the first player to win the MVP on a last-place team, which in itself is true testament to the type of player he was. When most may have turned in a lack luster effort, Andre kicked it into higher gear.

9. 5-time All-Star with Cubs (1987-1991) versus 3 times as an Expo (1981-1983).

8. Career highs in Home Runs (49) and RBIs (137) as a Cub.

7. Joined the 300 HRs / 300 SBs club as a Cub.

6. The "C" logo on the Cubs cap makes sense. The logo on the Expo cap never looked like an "M." Amazing that franchise never changed the "JL" into a cleaner logo.

5. 3-100 RBI seasons as a Cub (1987, 1991 & 1992), only 1 as an Expo.

4. Hit more Home Runs at Wrigley Field (Cubs) than Olympic Stadium (Expos) (110 to 102)*. Even before he joined the Cubs in '87, he loved hitting in Wrigley.

3. Ryne Sandberg. While Hall of Famer Gary Carter was a teammate of Andre's in Montreal (1976-1984), Andre/Ryno was the Jordan/Pippen of Chicago baseball. The tandem should wear the same cap in the Hall. I'll let you decide which is Jordan in this equation.

2. The Cubs have stated that they'll retire his #8 if he enters the Hall as a Cub. First, let me say that I believe they should do this regardless of the cap he wears. Second, that statement is insane considering the cap he wears is ultimately the Hall's decision. Andre gets to share his input, but it's not his call. I think it would show a lot of class on the Cubs part to do it even if the Expos are chosen. If he is immortalized as an Expo in the Hall, then immortalize him as a Cub at Wrigley. But let's not take chances here; let's make the decision for the Cubs easy.

1. Cubs are forever. Expos are now the Nationals. 20, 30 years from now, kids won't even remember the Expos. Do you think kids today know who the Washington Senators were? I want the next generation of fans that visit the Hall of Fame to recognize the cap on his plaque and recognize him as one of the greatest Cubs ever!

* www.baseball-reference.com

7 comments:

  1. Very very interesting post, Charley. I was wondering about your opinion on this issue. I figured you were leaning Cubs since by now I know you're a Cubs fan. As for me, like you, I'm glad that he's in regardless of which cap he wears. But! He's in the same boat as Gary Carter, who wanted to go in as a Met and the Hall of Fame asked him to go in as an Expo. As you probably know by now I'm a Mets fan, so if our guy had to go in as an Expo, then I'm gonna have to say, Andre should go in as an Expo also. :-)

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  2. Very nice points, Charley. And you hit #1 head on. The Expos are no longer.

    Regarding #3, we know who the 23 for the Cubs were. ;)

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  3. Charley-
    I wholeheartedly agree that the Cubs should retire #8 even if Dawson wears an Expos cap on his plaque. I am pretty sure Maddux will be inducted as a Brave, but his #31 is retired.

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  4. I agree Jermey, even though I would love to see Mad Dog go in the Hall as a Cub, it would be hard to argue against him going in as a Brave. He won three consecutive Cy Youngs and almost 200 wins as a Brave.

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  5. Shame on the Baseball Hall of Fame for making The Hawk go in as a member of the Expos. Nothing against the Expos fans.

    The franchise didn't want him and treated him as such. He was, is and will always be beloved by Chicago fans ALL OVER THE WORLD!

    Montreal can't say that...

    Thanks
    Craig

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  6. Dude, the Hall of Fame is being a douche nozzle by making Dawson go in as an Expo. The franchise doesn't even exist any more!

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  7. Perhaps all the teams that don't exist anymore should be removed from the Hall of Fame. We don't need to remember things that don't exist anymore, do we?

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