Andre Dawson - Hall of Famer

Tim Kurkjian from ESPN had this to say about Andre Dawson being in the Hall of Fame.

Kurkjian had an interesting perspective on Dawson's career basically mentioning intangibles such as work ethic, class, and heart (playing on bad knees due to 10 years of playing on artificial turf in Olympic Stadium for the Montreal Expos).

The numbers that hinder Dawson's chances is his .482 career slugging percentage and his .323 career on-base average, which clearly are not a Hall of Fame numbers, especially for an outfielder. Here's a look at his individual awards:

Andre Dawson

1977 - Rookie of the Year (NL)
1980 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
1980 - Silver Slugger (NL) (OF)
1981 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
1981 - Silver Slugger (NL) (OF)
1982 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
1983 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
1983 - Silver Slugger (NL) (OF)
1984 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
1985 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
*1987 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)
**1987 - MVP (NL)
*1987 - Silver Slugger (NL) (OF)
*1988 - Gold Glove (NL) (OF)

* = Played with Cubs, ** = Cubs were in last place

(that's 1 ROY, 1 MVP, 8 GGs, 4 SSs)

“No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. I watched him win an MVP for a last place team in 1987, and it was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way, and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday.” - Ryne Sandberg, Hall of Fame Induction Speech, July 31, 2005

If I could create an All-Cubs team, Andre Dawson IS my starting right-fielder...jerry curl and all.

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will announce election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, January 6, at 2pm.

Good luck Hawk!

Additional links:
-A blog that summarizes Dawson's hall of fame worthy career
-A look at the 2010 ballot (personally I think it's Alomar and Dawson)