Happy Birthday to Hall of Fame Outfielder Andre Dawson. Over 21 years playing Major League Baseball, primarily for the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs, Dawson established himself as a premier slugger and a great defensive Outfielder.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1976-1996):

.279 BA, 2,774 HITS, 438 HR, 1,591 RBI, 1,373 RUNS, .323 OBP, 314 SB

  • 8x All-Star
  • 8x Gold-Glove
  • 4x Silver Slugger
  • 1987 MVP
  • 1977 NL Rookie of the Year

Andre Dawson is one of eight players to hit over 300 home runs and steal 300 bases in his career, making him a member of the (300-300 club); the seven other players are Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Reggie Sanders, Steve Finley, Alex Rodriguez, and Carlos Beltran. He’s also a 400 HR-300 SB club member with four others: Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Carlos Beltran. While the talent was there for Dawson, he was known for his work ethic and study of the game. Very often, you saw him in the dugout holding a clipboard and taking notes on the pitches thrown by the pitcher. Dawson was doing this long before such practices were commonplace.

While he won an MVP as a member of the Cubs, his best years were in Montreal with the Expos. During his years with the Expos, he set franchise records for Games, At Bats, Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, Home Runs, RBIs, Extra Base Hits, and Steals; all have since been broken by guys like Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Vladimir Guerrero. Considering he only played in the postseason twice in his career, thus playing on mediocre or worse ballclubs, Dawson put up some pretty good numbers. Especially in 1987, he was winning the MVP and leading the majors in HRs & RBI for a last-place team. While it’s fair to say that Dawson played a long time, it’s also fair to say that Dawson could’ve been a much better performer had he played on better teams. 

References:

  1. Andre Dawson Career Statistics via Baseball Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dawsoan01.shtml
  2. Andre Dawson via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Dawson#