Holy Cow! Andre Dawson for Old Kuppenheimer

I thought this week instead of posting stats on why Andre should be in the Hall of Fame, we would have some fun.

Reason #10 Andre Dawson should be in the Hall of Fame, because he'll never get a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

As great of a ballplayer as Andre was, an actor he was not. Here is a classic little gem from the 1980s of Andre endorsing a suit company co-starring the great Harry Caray and Harry's son Skip, enjoy!



Holy cow, that was great! I searched and searched for another Andre Dawson 80s gem, his Tru-Link Fence ad to no avail. If anyone can find it, let me know, I would love to see it again.

Andre's Tru-Link Fence ad was one of my first memories watching the Cubs as a kid. I think that ad and Harry Caray were a large influence on why I became a Cubs fan. Even though I remember how poorly that ad was done, it made Andre seem more personal to me.

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)