1991 - A Special Season for The Hawk and Myself

The 1991 season was supposed to be the year the Cubs broke the curse and won the World Series (That's every year to a Cubs fan). With the newly acquired George Bell batting behind Andre, the Cubs were a likely favorite with three former MVPs in the line-up (Dawson, Bell and Ryne Sandberg). However, the Cubs finished with a disappointing 77-83 record, finishing 4th in the NL East. While the Cubs didn't enjoy much success in 1991, Andre did.*

Andre made his eighth and final appearance in the All-Star game, his fifth straight appearance since joining the Cubs in 1987. He finished the first half of 1991 tied for most home runs in the NL with 15 and was sixth in RBI with 52.**

What made 1991 special for me was that I got to attend the final game of that amazing first half. The game was July 7 at St. Louis; we drove from Oklahoma to see it. My family planned our summer vacation entirely around that game, so it was a big deal.

The Cubs won the first two games of the series. In the game on July 6th, Andre went 3 for 5 with a home run and a double to drive in 3 RBIs; Cubs won 12-2. I was hoping he would save some of that offense for the game we would attend the next day.

We brought our home made signs to the game, rooting for the Cubs to sweep the Cards. Of course, we got heckled by the home team fans, but I didn't let that damper my opportunity to see my first Cubs game live and my favorite player in action too.

Andre had one hit that night in four at-bats, but that one hit was a two-run home run. It was a deep left/center field shot off of Ken Hill in the 3rd inning.

The Cubs lost that game 8-7. The game was my first and last time to see Andre play and he didn't disappoint. Sure the Cubs lost, but even at the age of 12 I realized how special it was to have your favorite player come through for you with a home run.

A couple of days later he hit a solo shot over the center field wall in the All-Star game at the Skydome. The blast came in the fourth inning off of Roger Clemens; NL lost 4-2.***

He capped the season off with his fourth Silver Slugger award. It was most deservingly considering he hit two of his six career grand slams that season and his two pinch-hits in 1991 were both home runs.****

Andre finished 1991 with:*
Games - 149
Home Runs - 31 (4th in the NL)
RBIs - 104 (6th and accomplished back to back 100 RBI seasons)
Stolen Bases - 4
Hits - 153
Runs - 69
Avg. - .272
Total Bases - 275 (9th)
AB Per HR - 18.2 (7th)

What's your Andre Dawson memory? Please share with a comment!

* www.baseball-reference.com
** 1991 Upper Deck
*** www.wikipedia.org
**** 1992 Upper Deck

TWO DAYS LEFT....Hall of Fame Predictor Contest!!!!

To help celebrate what I hope will be Andre's election to the Hall and the New Year; I feel a contest is in order.

Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment with who you believe will be elected Tuesday to the Hall of Fame.

2. Also indicate what you believe will be the voting percentage for each player(s) that is elected to the decimal point, for example, 75.2.

3. You have until the end of Monday night to enter.

4. The person who selects the correct player(s) with the closest voting percentages wins. The winner will get first choice of the prizes below. The person who comes in second will also get a prize and will choose between the remaining two prizes.

The prizes:

Prizes are cards from three current Hall of Fame greats.

Mickey Mantle - 20 cards from the 1997 Mickey Mantle 7 Collection.


Nolan Ryan - 5 cards from the 1991 Upper Deck Nolan Ryan Baseball Heroes collection and his 1991 Upper Deck series card.


Cal Ripken Jr. - 5 cards from the 1996 Upper Deck Cal Ripken Jr. Collection and his 1996 Topps card celebrating the 2,131 game.



Good luck everyone and Happy New Year!

Andre Dawson: The College Years

Did you know before Andre was an Expo and a Cub he was a Rattler? As in Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Rattlers.

Andre attended Florida A&M from 1973-1975 and was drafted in the 11th round by the Expos in 1975.* He majored in Physical Education.

Three other future Major Leaguers played for A&M:
Hal McRae - 1964-1965, 6th Round by the Reds
Vince Coleman - 1979-1982, 10th Round by the Cardinals
Marquis Grissom - 1986-1988, 3rd Round by the Expos

Andre turned in a pretty great professional career for being drafted in a later round than all three of his fellow alumni. I would love to share with you this college statistics, but it’s difficult to find statistics for that school that far back.

However, here’s his minor league stats.**
1975 –
Rookie, 72 G, 13 HRs, 50 RBIs, 11 SBs, .330 Avg., 99 Hits, 52 Runs, .381 OBP

1976 –
AA, 40 G, 8 HRs, 27 RBIs, 9 SBs, .357 Avg., 51 Hits, 27 Runs, .409 OBP

AAA, 74 G, 20 HRs, 46 RBIs, 10 SBs, .350 Avg., 84 Hits, 51 Runs, .410 OBP

Dawson, McRae, Coleman, and Grissom have been inducted into the Florida A&M Atheletic Hall of Fame.** Now, if we can only get Andre into another Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame!

*www.baseball-reference.com
**www.thebaseballcube.com

Six Degree of Andre Dawson

Everyone has heard of that game where you can link Kevin Bacon to any actor based on movies he’s been in. Well, I thought it would be fun in anticipation of Andre being voted into the Hall of Fame to show the unique connections he has with some of the players already in the Hall.

Let’s get started.

Willie McCovey – Andre and Willie are the only two players to have hit 2 home runs in the same inning twice. (Andre did it in 7/30/78 vs. Braves and 9/24/85 vs. Cubs)

Willie Mays – Andre and Willie make up 2/3rds of the 400 HRs / 300 SBs club along with Barry Bonds.

Paul Molitor – Won 4 Silver Sluggers (1987, 1988, 1993 & 1996), Andre won 4 (1980, 1981, 1983 & 1987).

Johnny Bench – Won the M.L. Hutch award in 1981, Andre won in it 1994.

Bill Mazeroski – Won 8 Gold Gloves at 2B, Andre won 8 for OF.

Billy Williams – Along with being another Cub great, was inducted in 1987 the same year that Andre was named NL MVP for the Cubs.

Eddie Murray – Won the 1977 AL ROY, Andre won the 1977 NL ROY.

Rod Carew – Won both the ROY and MVP awards ten years apart (1967, 1977) as did Andre (1977, 1987).

Gary Carter – Not only were they Expo teammates but both have their numbers retired by the Expos (Carter 8, Dawson 10).

Cal Ripken Jr. – Made the # 8 famous, Cal’s Orioles’ jersey #, and Andre’s Cubs’ jersey #.

Frank Robinson – Hit 49 home runs, a career high, and led the Al in 1966. Andre also hit 49 home runs as a career high and led the NL in 1987.

Bruce Sutter – Made his MLB debut the same year as Andre in 1976 (Sutter 5/9/76, Andre 9/11/76).

Ozzie Smith – Both greats retired from the game after the 1996 season.

Tony Perez - Both finished their distinguished careers with a life-time batting average of .2794.

Steve Carlton – Not only did Andre get the best of him in their meetings (.291 avg. 4 HRs, 14 RBIs), but both were born in Miami, FL (Carlton – Dec. 1944, Andre – July 1954). When Andre gets elected, they will be the only two players in the HOF that were born in Florida.

Ryne Sandberg – Not only were they teammates, but Ryno praised Andre in his Hall of Fame induction speech. “No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. I watched him win an MVP for a last place team in 1987, and it was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way, and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday.”

Source: www.baseball-reference.com

My Fave Five Andre Dawson Cards!

One thing about Andre was that he always knew how to take a good photo. His cards always had something special to them. You just got a sense of how hard he played the game by looking at them.

Below are the five cards out of my collection that are my favorite. They remind me of all of the reasons I've enjoyed watching The Hawk and collecting his cards over the years.


1. 1991 Donruss The Elite Series #04363/10,000


I remember when these cards were introduced. It was the first real numbered insert that I can recall. I bought so many 1991 Donruss wax packs trying to pull one of these bad boys. Never had any luck, I finally had to purchase this one on eBay a few years ago. I love the design and that from Andre's expression; you know he must have got a hold of one. It's like a piece of artwork!


2. 1977 Topps Rookie Card


Your favorite player's rookie card always holds a special place in your heart and I'm no different.


3. 2003 Donruss Signature Series Legends of the Summer #56/100


This card is just beautiful to me. I love the nostalgic design and what more could you ask for from that signature, I love that he scribed it "MVP '87."


4. 1996 Leaf Signature Series


I thought this was the greatest thing when Leaf Signature Series came out. Before this series, almost the only way to get an autographed card was at card shows. The idea of getting an autograph from opening a pack of cards was amazing to me. Of course these packs were expensive to a high school kid; I believe they were something ridiculous like $16 a pack!


5. 1990 Leaf


This has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I just love pictures of Andre batting. The design is so clean and simple that it looks perfect to get an autograph on.


Those are my fave five, what's yours?