Congratulations to Andre Dawson for finally earning selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame today. Dawson was one of the best players in the 1980s and was the complete package as a player: great speed (314 steals), tremendous power (438 home runs in the pre-steroid era) and probably the most feared outfield arm in the major leagues.
I remember Dawson best from his years in Chicago as member of the Cubs. He was especially magnificent in his first year in Chicago in 1987, a superstar on a team that had Ryne Sandberg and not much else. He hit 49 home runs that summer and drove in 137, which were highly impressive numbers for that era. In my mind, Dawson should have gone into the Hall before Jim Rice, who wasn't nearly as versatile a player. The biggest knock on Dawson was that his career batting average (.279) wasn't outstanding. It's tough to argue that should disqualify him when you consider that Rabbit Maranville (.258) is in the Hall, though.
We also must note the near miss of Bert Blyleven, who came up just a few votes short of gaining election this year. Blyleven was a very good pitcher with a very long career and I suspect his overall numbers would have been much better if he hadn't played for so many bad teams -- he spent most of his career toiling in places like Cleveland, Texas and here in Minnesota during the dark 1970s. Bert will almost certainly get in next year, as will Roberto Alomar, who also fell just a few votes short.
The Hall of Fame is a peculiar institution and the baseball writers are a peculiar bunch. While it's certainly a more exclusive club than other professional halls of fame, the standards are pretty hard to suss out. You can argue stats and make all manner of assumptions about how to rank the various players, but I can tell you this -- Dawson is clearly a Hall of Fame guy. So is Bert Blyleven, and so are Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Jack Morris and Tim Raines. These guys were dominant players and all proved their value over the long haul. I would hope that all get to stand at the podium in Cooperstown before very long.
3 comments:
Randy Johnson is next.
i dont watch baseball, but even I knew he was incredible.
Alomar will get in, probably next year...so will Blyleven. Barry Larkin will also get in fairly soon, I think.
But, the guy you mentioned that needs to be in the Hall that I am afraid may not make it is Tim Raines. He was a stolen-base artist, but he was under the shadow of Rickey Henderson. He hit for pretty good average, but he was under the shadow of players like Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs (at the time). I wonder if too many others' achievements overshadowed Raines' career.
Gino,
No doubt that Randy Johnson will make it, although they will make him cool his heels for 5 years, which is true for everyone.
Mike,
I agree -- Raines's problem is that he was very much like Henderson and not as good, although he was a better defensive outfielder by rather a large margin. They had some amazing talent on those early '80s Montreal Expos teams -- Dawson, Raines, Gary Carter -- it's rare that you see that sort of star power on one team (unless it's the Yankees, of course).
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