Andre is Elected to HOF with 77.9%, Congrats Hawk!!!

Congratulations Andre on your long awaited and deserved call to the Hall!

For 21 seasons you gave baseball and its’ fans your heart and best effort when you stepped onto the field. Now that effort will be immortalized among baseball’s greatest for all-time.

I congratulate and thank the BBWAA voters for making the right decision; albeit one that should have been made sooner, but a decision that Andre, his fans and baseball deserve.

What makes it the right decision?

The right decision for Andre because he was truly one of the best during his time in baseball. He achieved greatness in his career by winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 1977 and NL MVP in 1987, winning 8 Gold Gloves, winning four Silver Slugger Awards, and being one of only three players to amass at least 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases.

The right decision for his fans because now everyone can recognize Andre the way we have for the last 8 years since he has appeared on the ballot, as a Hall of Famer!

The right decision for baseball because one day I’ll be able to show my child Andre’s display at Cooperstown and be able to tell him, “Andre played the game right, reciprocated the respect fans and peers showed him and played through the pain of his knees to become one of the game’s greatest.”

Now, isn’t that good for baseball, to have Andre in the Hall of Fame to serve as one of baseball’s great examples of how hard work and persistence pays off?

Congratulations once again Andre, you’ve earned the honor of being called a Hall of Famer!

If you would like to congratulate Andre on this achievement and his career, leave a comment below and I’ll send it to him.

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!

A Week Away Until Andre's Fate for the Hall is Unveiled

As you know next Wednesday, January 6th, we'll all find out if Andre is a Hall of Famer in 2010. From an early report I read, Andre has appeared on 87% of the 46 ballots turned in as of Monday, December 28th.*

Things are looking good for The Hawk and I'm confident we'll be pleased with the outcome a week from now. To celebrate the upcoming occasion I'll be posting every day starting tomorrow up until the voting results are announced. A few of these posts will be outside of my normal Andre Dawson posts, so I hope you enjoy and check back everyday for something different.

....Oh yeah....I'm going to announce a CONTEST WITH PRIZES on Friday morning!!!!!!

Good Luck Hawk!

*www.baseballthinkfactory.org

Hear this BBWA Voters, Look at the Man Behind the Numbers!

Last week was a special week, besides being Thanksgiving, the Hall of Fame ballots were released to Baseball Writers of America (BBWA) voters. Voting results will be announced on January 6th.

Of course this is Andre's eighth, and hopefully final, time on the ballot.

I believe Andre's career statistics are reason enough for him to be inducted into the hall, its hard to tell if enough of the voters this year feel that way too, but if not, then they should look at the man behind the numbers if they need that final push to vote for him.

Anyone who has followed The Hawk's career knows how much effort he put into each and every game he played and his passion for being a role model to kids.

Last Tuesday, Andre gained the support of 500 more people I imagine when he represented the Florida Marlins along with pitcher Anibal Sanchez in handing out almost 500 turkeys to families in need in the Miami area at the Orange Bowl.*

That's the great thing about Andre; his caring nature didn't stop when he stepped off of the playing field for the last time. He has continued to speak to children in youth baseball programs, raise money for charitable causes and be a valuable member of the Miami community.

If negative traits such as gambling and steroid use can keep a player out, then why can't positive ones be a deciding factor of letting a player in?

BBWA voters - if you're going to punish the bad, then reward the good!

I wonder if anyone asked Andre to autograph their turkey.

*www.florida.marlins.mlb.com

Looking Forward to 2010

Now that the World Series is over -- I can't believe people were making a big deal out of the Yankees not winning one for the last nine years, one every nine years sounds good to a Cubs fan -- anyway I digress, the baseball world will now turn it's attention to free agent signings, the new Cubs owner and the Hall of Fame voting in January, the latter being what I am anticipating the most.

But first, I just want to mention that I don't know a whole lot about the Cubs new owner Tom Ricketts, but I do know that Andre Dawson was his favorite Cub. Mr. Ricketts on Andre in recent interviews, "When he was here, he set such a high standard for future players. He was just awesome, a great gentleman who played on some really average teams."* Not sure how he will be as an owner, but any fan of Andre's is alright by me.

So Hall of Fame voting is around three months away, it's time to buckle down and really start campaigning on Andre's behalf. I know I'm not the only one that feels that way. When I came across the online petition "Get Andre Dawson in the hall," and posted the link on my blog, it had 65 signatures. That petition has now grown into 105 signatures in just a few months!

What better way to demonstrate why Andre deserves to be in the Hall than to share some of the comments from those signatures.

"I grew up in Montreal and had the opportunity to watch him play many times. He was the best I ever saw..."

"No one gave up their body to baseball the way he did."

"He was a 5 tool player, how many players are in the 300/300 club? Only 5, and Dawson is one."

"Best right fielder of the eighties."

If you want to show your support and haven't signed the petition yet, it's under my Recommended Websites.


*www.dailyherald.com and www.nbcchicago.com