A Plea to the Hall of Fame – and an Answer
If you’ve detected a theme of Expos boosterism on this site over the past few days, you’re a pretty observant reader. Andre Dawson got elected to the Hall of Fame this week, and I’ve spent a considerable amount of free time I don’t have reminiscing about the Expos, and making the case for Dawson to get elected with the tri-color cap on his dome.
Thanks to the magic of the Interwebs, all it takes to make your feelings known to the gatekeepers at the Hall of Fame is a quick email. So I sent them one.
–
Hello,
I’m a life-long Expos fan turned baseball writer. I owe my entire career to those childhood days rooting for the Expos and learning the sport. Their loss was devastating for me. If you want to know how the end of the Expos affected fans of the team…
…and this.
The numbers all point to Dawson going in as an Expo – 10 years in Montreal vs. 6 in Chicago, with all the corresponding counting stats also in favor of his Montreal days.
But this isn’t about the numbers. Inducting The Hawk into the Hall of Fame would be an incredibly uplifting gesture for all the Expos die-hards who supported the team all those years, through good times (such as during Dawson’s heyday, when Olympic Stadium was packed and the Expos often outdrew glamour teams like the Yankees) and bad.
Expos Nation collectively jumped for joy when we heard the news of Dawson’s induction this week. It’s a mere five-hour drive from Montreal to Cooperstown, and everyone north of the border, and in the entire surrounding area, plans to pack the town, and the museum, for a weekend of Expos revelry and nostalgia.
Please, please reward our undying love for the game, for our team, and for our man The Hawk by making him just the second Expos cap-donning player to grace your hallowed hall.
Warm wishes,
Jonah Keri
–
Just three hours later, I received a reply.
–
Jonah:
Thank you very much for your note.
The choice of which team logo appears on a player’s Hall of Fame plaque is the Museum’s decision, though the wishes of an inductee are always considered. As a history museum, it is important that the logo be emblematic of the historical accomplishments of that player’s career.
A player’s election to the Hall of Fame is a career achievement, and as such every team for whom he played is listed on the plaque. However, the logo selection is based on where that player makes his most indelible mark.
After a period of research and analysis, the Hall of Fame will announce what will be featured on Andre Dawson’s cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.
Thank you very much for your interest in the Baseball Hall of Fame!
Sincerely,
Craig Muder
Director of Communications
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
–
Form letter? Probably not entirely, though I’m sure there was at least some cut-and-pasting involved (I’ve probably answered about 98.5% of the reader email I’ve ever received, and confess to at least mild cut-and-pasting when the volume is too overwhelming). Regardless, the Hall’s reply made me feel oddly better. If Dawson goes into the Hall wearing a Cubs cap (which appears to be his preference based on the prevailing tea leaves), it would be another crushing blow for fans who thought they were done with heartache five and a half years ago. Any little gesture that temporarily gets our spirits up, we’ll take it.
Are you an Expos fan hoping to see Andre Dawson go into the Hall of Fame wearing an Expos cap? Email your thoughts to info@baseballhalloffame.org. Please be polite and thoughtful.
Jonah,
I also sent an email to the Hall on Thursday, noting that Dawson’s WAR total with the Expos (43.6 WAR in 11 seasons) was vastly superior to the 16 WAR he accumulated during his six seasons spent with Chicago. His best season (the 1981 campaign, according to both CHONE’s WAR data and OPS+) was also played with the Spos.
But reading Tyler Kepner’s nostalgic piece about our beloved team, I can see why Dawson would be more inclined to go as a Cub: the Nationals are not embracing the Expos’s history at all, and it must be tough for Gary Carter and other Montreal All-Star Veterans to not have any place to commemorate their glory days. Still, I hope that Dawson will go in as an Expo; heck, I’ll be sure to lobby the Habs management in order for them to get Dawson a proper ceremony sometime during the next season.
Oh, and I also got the exact same response from the Hall; except that it was signed by one Samanthar Carr, Media Relations Coordinator.
Yeah figured it was either mostly a form letter, or totally one, Felix. Well, I’m all for self-delusion if it makes one fell better anyway.
All good points about Dawson’s performance. I think there’s another bigger reason in Dawson’s case too: There’s no way he doesn’t still feel at least some resentment over collusion. Now, every team was doing it. But it happened to coincide with both Raines’ and Dawson’s free agency, and Dawson took it the hardest. Showing up announced to Cubs’ spring training and telling them to fill in whatever contract number they want is a sign of a man who’s pissed at the world, and for good reason.
Aside from voters being snowed by lofty HR and RBI totals, I suspect they were also seduced by Dawson coming to the Cubs on bended knee, then issuing a 49-HR, 137-RBI F-you to the rest of baseball. Same idea as when Jimmy Rollins won MVP after vowing that the Phillies would win the AL East – when he probably wasn’t even the best player on his own team, let alone the whole league.
I think one of the reasons you see so many people saying The Hawk should go in as a cub is that unless you are older then say 35 you have almost no memory of him being a Expo. I am 30 years old, and my only real memories of him are as a Cub. Summers spent at Grand Ma’s on the south side routing for the Cubs. I also think the ubiquity of WGN tends to lead most people to think of him as a Cub.
All of that might be true, Howell. But that’s missing the point of what the Hall of Fame is all about. Dawson’s plaque will be in the Hall of Fame long after he, you and I are dead, just as Babe Ruth’s plaque has outlasted Ruth himself and most people who ever saw him play.
A museum’s role, the Hall’s role, is to encapsulate points in time, and the players who excelled during those times. Dawson played far more games with the Expos than the Cubs, and taken as a whole, was a better player overall in Montreal than in Chicago. That’s what’s relevant here.