Winners of the Hall of Fame Predictor Contest

Andre was the sole induction for this year's Hall of Fame class with 77.9%. Three people picked him as the only player to get elected: Gooseneck (78.3), Ronnie Phillips (78.6) and Danny (81.2).

Gooseneck is the winner with the closest % of the three, Ronnie is second. Gooseneck, email me with your choice of one of three prizes, the Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan, or Cal Ripken cards. Ronnie, email me your first and second choices.

30-Year Old Cardboard was almost dead-on with Andre's %, guessing 77.8, however he also chose Roberto Alomar to be elected. Since he was so close with the %, I'm going to send him a honorable mention prize!

Thanks everyone for participating!!!!

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 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

The Hawk is Confident, You Should Be Too!

Recently, Andre did an interview for The Oklahoman (Published: July 26, 2009) while in Oklahoma City to make the first pitch of a Red Hawks minor league game. In the interview, he shared his feelings on the probability of being the next Hall of Fame inductee.

"The Hall of Fame has been a journey. Nine years. Now thankfully there’s nobody ahead of me that I have to hurdle. Next year perhaps will be a window for me. I think the one advantage I have is when you get up to 65 percent you usually get in. So I’m right about 66 right now and there’s nobody ahead of me so next year might be the year."*

I checked the Hall of Fame's website to see how accurate Andre's theory is. Since 1990, only two players who got at least 65% in votes didn't get inducted the following year, Tony Perez (67.9 in 1998) and Orlando Cepeda (73.5 in 1994). **

Perez only got 60.8% in the following year, but the good news for him was that he received 77.2% in 2000, enough for induction. In all fairness, he didn't stand a chance in 1999 because that was the year Nolan Ryan, George Brett, and Robin Yount were first-time inductees. He also received at least 65% in 1996 and 1997. You know what they say, the third....make that fifth time is a charm.

Unfortunately Cepeda wasn't so lucky, 1994 was the first year he received at least 65% in votes, but also his last year of eligibility. Steve Carlton was the lone induction that year.

All in all, I would have to agree with Andre, I think he should plan on being in Cooperstown next summer.

Interesting side note: I knew why Andre was nicknamed "The Hawk," but never knew who gave him the nickname. Andre also shared this in the article.

"The uncle who introduced me to the sport (baseball) bought me my first fielder’s glove. I took a liking to the game and growing up, it was the only thing I wanted to do. An uncle gave me my nickname. When he would throw me batting practice, he said I had a glare about me. I stayed on the ball unlike anything he had seen out of a youngster. He gave me the nickname and it stuck."

If you would like to read the article in its entirety, click here.

* www.newsok.com
** www.baseballhalloffame.org

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)