(Chicago) Andre Dawson said he sent a letter to Baseball Hall of Fame President Jane Forbes Clark asking her to replace his Montreal Expos cap on his commemorative plaque with that of the Chicago Cubs, a a decision that displeased him as soon as it was announced by the institution 13 years ago.
“I don’t expect them to be surprised by this request,” Dawson told the Chicago Tribune on Monday. If they answer it, then I know they will take their time to do so. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t answer it at all. »
Players could choose the team with which they wanted to enter the Hall of Fame until 2001, but the institution changed its rules at the dawn of the vote for the 2002 vintage. This decision was taken after that newspaper articles reported in 1999 that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays offered financial compensation to Wade Boggs, who had just announced his retirement, to wear the Florida team’s logo on his commemorative plaque. Boggs was finally inducted in 2005 with a Boston Red Sox cap.
“We plan to speak with Andre, but we still have not received his letter,” Hall of Fame spokesperson Jon Shestakofsky said Wednesday.
Three weeks after the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected him in 2010, the Hall of Fame decided he would wear an Expos cap on its commemorative plaque.
“I respect the Temple’s decision to put the Expos logo on my cap, and I understand that they have to make sure to put the logo of the team that had the biggest impact in my career,” Dawson said via press release issued by the Hall of Fame. Cubs fans will always hold a special place in my heart, and I owe them a huge debt for allowing me to have a memorable time in Chicago, as did the fans in Montreal, Boston and South Florida. , where I live. Obviously, the most important thing is that I am part of the great Hall of Fame family, because it is the greatest honor one can aspire to. »
However, on the day the Hall of Fame’s decision was announced, Dawson told Chicago radio station WMVP-AM, “I’m disappointed. I can say, without embarrassment, that I would have preferred to wear the Cubs logo.
At the time of the decision, then-Temple President Jeff Idelson said, “You want the logo of the team where the player had the biggest impact. He had quite an impact in Montreal. He had quite an impact in Chicago, and a little less in Boston and Florida, and it was obviously a case where we had to sit down and think before making a decision. »
The institution recalled that Dawson had 1,575 of his 2,774 career hits with the Expos, that he won six of his eight Gold Gloves in Montreal and that he led the Expos to their only playoff victory playoffs — they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the National League Division Series in 1981. Idelson also added that it is the institution’s responsibility “to correctly interpret the history of sports.”
Dawson played his first 11 seasons with the Expos, posting a .285 batting average with 225 home runs and 838 RBIs. He was voted to the All-Star Game three times and won the National League Most Outstanding Rookie award in 1977. He played six seasons with the Cubs, where he won the National League Most Outstanding Player award. in 1987 after hitting .287 with 49 long balls and 137 RBIs. He also played two seasons with the Boston Red Sox, and two more with the Florida Marlins, before announcing his retirement in 1996.