It's Official, Andre is Entering the Hall as an Expo.

Okay, I could be a disappointed Cub fan today, but it's hard for me to sit here and feel that way. Andre's in the Hall and that's enough for me; wearing a Cubs jersey was just going to be icing on the cake.

Andre became one of the best players in the game during his time in Montreal and that shouldn't be overlooked. True he reached career highs and led the National League in home runs (49) and RBIs (137) in 1987 as a Cub. But as an Expo he reached a career high in hits and also led the NL with 189 in 1983 and had his only 100 run seasons (107 - 1982 and 104 - 1983).

I don't think it should be questioned whether his years as an Expo were more deserving to be honored than his time spent as a Cub. I think what should be questioned is why the Hall of Fame has the ultimate decision. Why isn't it the player's choice? Andre wanted to wear a Cubs' cap on induction day.

Andre was the one who endured through some awful seasons in which the Expos and Cubs were not competitive - not the Hall. Andre was the one who helped carry the team in the seasons they were play-off contenders. Andre was the one who would get up out of bed the day after a night game with achy knees and head back to the ball park to do it all over again. How he wants to be remembered should be his decision, so I repeat - not the Hall!

So as I sit here writing this post, I just want to remind Dawson fans, Cub fans, Expo fans, baseball fans...it doesn't matter what cap will be on Andre's plaque, what matters is that he's there among baseball's greatest.

Andre Dawson by the Numbers

Baseball is relatively an easy game to understand. Two opposing teams get three outs per inning to try to make something happen in order to manufacture runs. After nine innings the team with the most runs wins.

Baseball statistics and how those statistics were evaluated in order to determine if a player should be in the Hall of Fame used to be that simple.

It's crazy all of these new sabermetric statistic-formulas that people have came up with that are now being used to evaluate eligible players for the Hall with. I’ve been reading articles where writers, some of whom are HOF voters, that have been using these type of statistics on why they won’t vote for Andre, “Andre’s win shares are too low,” or “his OPS+ isn’t as high as I would like.”

Win shares? OPS+? Whatever happened to just saying, “This player has X home runs, X runs batted in, X hits, X Gold Gloves, etc.”? “Man, those are great numbers, of course player X is a Hall of Famer!”

Numbers, not formulas.

I understand that win shares and OPS+ and other complicated formula statistics like that have their place in modern baseball, but let’s look at statistics and numbers that everyone can understand when determining how to vote for Hall of Fame candidates.

Here are some numbers on Andre that I believe BBWAA voters should consider:

1 – NL MVP (1987) and NL ROY (1977)
2 – NL MVP Runner-Up (1981 and 1983)
3 – Only three players have at least 400 HRs and 300 SBs, Andre being one of them.
4 – Silver Slugger Awards (1980, 1981, 1983 and 1987)
8 – Gold Gloves and All-Star Selections
118 – Sacrifice Flies (10th all-time)
143 – Intentional Base on Balls (50th all-time)
314 – Stolen Bases
438 – Home Runs (36th all-time)
503 – Doubles (48th all-time)
1,039 – Extra Base Hits (24th all-time)
1,591 – Runs Batted In (34th all-time)
2,774 – Hits (45th all-time)
4787 – Total Bases (25th all-time)

I could keep throwing more numbers at you, but let’s keep this simple.

Leave the formulas to the BCS system in determining the National College Football Championship and vote for one of the best all-around players ever to play the game into the Hall in 2010!

Source - www.baseball-refernce.com

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