Andre Dawson Elected To The Hall Of Fame

The Hawk

First let me say that I’ve seen some of the ballots and being a person that subscribes to the religion of baseball it makes me absolutely sick on how some of these writers who get admission into the Baseball Writers Association of America actually voted or in some chases choose not to file one single vote. Absolutely disgusting.

Back on November 29, I posted a detailed run down of who I thought deserved admission into the Baseball Hall of Fame as well as those I would not vote for, if I was lucky enough to have a vote, and today the results from the Baseball Writers Association of America told us the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame class would only have the inclusion of outfielder Andre “The Hawk” Dawson.

Dawson a five tool player was a 8-time All-Star and 8-time Gold Glove outfielder, was also the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1987 NL MVP. In 21 season he finished with 2,774 hits and 438 home runs as well as 1,591 RBI’s among many more baseball accomplishment’s. Dawson played for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins. The Hawk on his ninth try received 420 out of 539 votes for 77.9%, 2.9% more than the 75% needed to be inducted.

Dawson, whose fielding prowess earned him the nickname “The Hawk,” will be honored along with manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey, who were elected by the Veterans Committee, will be inducted into the Hall July 25 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York.

I hate to take away from Hall of Famer Andre Dawson moment but when you see that the BBWAA had 5 blank ballots, in what I am going to assume was pure laziness,just infuriates me considering guys like Bert Blyleven missed by 0.8% or that Roberto Alomar missed by 1.3%. While my blood is still boiling I would like to dot trademarks around the writers eyes that used their votes to tell me that Kevin Appier, Pat Hentgen, David Segui and Ellis Burk need to have a plaque of enshrinement next to Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Bob Gibson, Mickey Mantle, Ozzie Smith, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays just to name a few.

Players may remain on the ballot for up to 15 years provided they receive five percent of the vote in any year. There were 11 candidates who failed to make the cut this year, all among the 15 players who were on the ballot for the first time. The first-year candidates who received sufficient support to remain other than Alomar were shortstop Barry Larkin with 278 (51.6%), designated hitter-third baseman Edgar Martinez with 195 (36.2%) and first baseman Fred McGriff with 116 (21.5%). Other holdovers who will remain on the ballot are pitchers Jack Morris and Lee Smith, first basemen Don Mattingly and Mark McGwire, shortstop Alan Trammell, outfielder-DH Harold Baines and outfielders Tim Raines, Dave Parker and Dale Murphy.

Once again congratulations to you Hall of Famer Andre “The Hawk” Dawson.