MESA, Ariz. – Over two years of discussions between Hall of Famer Andre Dawson and the National Baseball Hall of Fame have finally resolved in a compromise.
Dawson, who went into the Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo, will have his plaque recast with a blank cap.
“I always felt that I was a Cub in the Hall of Fame, I just had the ‘M’ on the cap,” Dawson said Wednesday on the back patio of the Cubs’ spring training complex. “That’s what I always related to. That’s where my heart was.”
When Dawson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010, there was no blank cap option. He was four years too early for that, and a decade too late to make the decision himself. So, he ended up representing the Expos, who drafted him in 1975. He spent the first 11 seasons of his major-league career with Montreal.
“All along, I just felt that the process should have allowed me to have some sort of say so,” Dawson said. “And for years, I just disregarded trying to entertain it at all. It was what it was. And once the protocol started to change, where players were picking they didn’t want to wear an emblem, I felt that I just needed to right the wrong. Because I wasn’t given that opportunity, against what my wishes would have been.”
Dawson chose the Cubs, agreeing to a blank-check deal. He entered free agency after the 1986 season with a Rookie of the Year award, three All-Star nods, three Silver Slugger trophies and six Gold Gloves already under his belt. But he had trouble finding a landing spot, in a saga that was determined to be collusion between MLB owners.
“Prior to being a free agent, this is what I envisioned,” Dawson said. “There were two teams that I even chose to want to entertain, because both were in the National League, natural playing surface, Wrigley, you can’t say enough about daytime baseball, and a huge fan following. So I had to make that happen. That’s the only way I could get here, is that I make it happen.”
That first year with the Cubs, he won the 1987 NL MVP. He was named an All-Star in five of his six years in the organization. And he added two more Gold Glove awards and a Silver Slugger to his tally.
“It was just a love affair with the fans in right field Opening Day,” Dawson said. “That’s what is most enjoyable about the game. That’s who you play the game for, is for the fans and the way they embraced me. It goes beyond what my wildest expectations would have been.”
Now long retired, Dawson has maintained his connection with the Cubs as an ambassador. He regularly visits spring training as a guest instructor. For his Hall of Fame plaque to display another team’s logo seemed ill-fitting.
“I was disappointed that it took that long,” Dawson said. “But there were some things that probably needed to be sorted out. It had never been done before, which I understand, but I felt that at some point there would be some relief from it. It just took the time that it did.”