A Closer Look at Andre's 1983 Season

In 1983 unemployment in the US rose to 12 million, highest total since 1941 (sound familiar?), the final episode of M*A*S*H aired setting a record of 125 million watchers, and The Hawk was setting records of his own for the Montreal Expos.*

I've mentioned it before in a previous post that in my opinion, Andre's 1983 season was probably his best all-around offensive season. So good that I think we should revisit that season with a closer look.

Here's the numbers The Hawk put up that year in 159 games:
32 - HRs, 113 - RBIs, 189 Hits, 104 Runs, .299 Avg., 25 SBs, 36 2Bs, 10 3Bs, 341 TBs

What stands out about these numbers and that 1983 season?

1. Was the first Expos to have at least 30 HRs, 30 2Bs, 100 RBIs, and 100 Runs in a season. Only two other players in Expos/Nationals franchise history have achieved this, Vladimir Guerrero and Ryan Zimmerman.

2. Led the league that year in hits, total bases, sacrifice flies (18), extra base hits (78) and hit by pitch (9). Finished 10th in batting average, 2nd in slugging %, 3rd in runs, 5th in doubles, 3rd in triples, 3rd in homeruns, 7th in times on bases and 6th in at-bats per homerun (19.781).**

3. Set single-season club records at that time for home runs (32, now seventh), RBI (113, now fourth), extra base hits (78, now seventh), and sacrifice flies (18, still first)***

4. Had to expand his trophy case in the off-season after winning his fourth consecutive Gold Glove and third Silver Slugger awards. Almost added an MVP trophy as well, coming in 2nd in voting.

1983 was just one of several seasons that made Andre a Hall of Fame caliber player. But, no other season I think was a better indication of the 5-tool player he was and how dominate he was in the early 80s.

* www.thepeoplehistory.com
** www.baseball-reference.com
*** www.wikipedia.org

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

A Closer Look at a True Legend of the Game

This week I received a Google Alert about a website that posted a video on Andre finishing his career with the Marlins and life after retirement titled "Andre Dawson: A Florida Legend."

I thought I would share this video with my fellow Hawk fans. If you follow the Marlins, you've probably seen this before, but for those who haven't it's an interesting little video that shows a different side of Andre. Enjoy!

Click here to watch video!

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 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