My SB Nation colleague Jeff Sackmann, who runs the Brewers site Brew Crew Ball, has recently taken over as the primary blogger at the stat-oriented site Beyond the Boxscore.
Today, he wrote a statistically-oriented post about whether Andre Dawson should be in the Hall of Fame -- saying Dawson was his favorite player growing up, but, essentially, he shouldn't get in because his OBP is so poor compared to other Hall of Famers.
He emailed me the link, and I responded to him:
Dawson clearly qualifies. Plus, he's got those eight Gold Gloves. And is one of only three players with 400 HR and 300 SB. And that MVP award. And undoubtedly would have been even greater had he not ruined his knees on the turf in Montreal.
Sure, he couldn't walk. To which my answer is, "So what?"
He's a Hall of Famer in my book. Hope he gets in this time.
Beyond what I wrote to Jeff, one thing about Andre Dawson shines through in this steroid-enhanced era. As Ryne Sandberg alluded to in his induction speech, Dawson was one who played the game right. He's a great role model for anyone who wants to see how a combination of natural talent and hard work and playing through serious injuries, can result in great play.
Andre Dawson is absolutely, positively a Hall of Famer. I hope that, along with Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., we'll hear his name announced as a 2007 inductee tomorrow.