Dear Andre Dawson,I'm so happy you finally got elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. It's great to see you rewarded for putting up the numbers you did (438 HRs/1,591 RBI/2,774 hits) before the suspected steroid era.
As a Cubs fan, I am especially grateful for the years you gave us. Playing all those day games on bad knees must've been difficult. (The fact that you originally signed for $500,000 a year is downright hilarious by 2010 standards!)
In 1987 my family finally had cable, and I had a blast watching you hit 49 homeruns and winning the MVP award for a last place Cubs team.
It's jus
t too bad that when I finally convinced my family to take me to Chicago that year to watch you play, as we were driving there, I heard on the radio that Eric Show hit you in the face with a pitch. You went out there and beat him up and all, but I didn't get to see you while I was there. (I got a lot of Jim Sundberg though and got to see him hit a grand slam for the 2nd time in my life!)So even though Eric Show is a jerk and I never got to see you play, you were one of my favorite players growing up. You also ruled in RBI, RBI 2, and RBI 3. Congratulations.
Your pal,
Furious Ron
6 comments:
After the incident you mention, he was forever known as Eric "Headhunter" Show in our house. I only wish that Hawk had been slightly less restrained by his teammates and gotten to land a couple more punches.
Congrats to Andre Dawson. He deserves it.
Awesome. Didn't realize you were a Cubs fan? Or maybe just a Show hater? Which is understandable.
Cubs fan here, big time, though currently frustrated and somewhat in remission. Grew up until I was 12 just east of South Bend, so we had WGN from the time I was about 7 years old. I can still recite the usual starting lineups for the '85-86 teams, from the time that my brother and I would catch at least part of almost every 1:10 or 3:15 start in the summer. Ahhh, to be a young, unjaded Cubs fan again...
Wow, that's great. I lived much further (New Orleans) but started watching on WGN around 83-84. My great-grandmother had cable and we'd also watch at a friend of the family's house.
Speaking of line-ups, my dad used to keep a notebook for me with current line-ups for all MLB teams that he pieced together from the boxscores. I still have one of the notebooks. I should scan some of the pages for the blog some day.
And yes, how great it would be to watch Harry and Steve call the games again. And to watch Ryno, Durham, Dunston, Grace, etc...
That is very cool! Do scan those, if you like. That reminds me of when my brother and I played fantasy baseball out of the boxscores every day back then. Of course, he was like 15 and I was about 8, so you can guess who won.
I'm getting misty at the thought of those days. The Penguin (who I personally saw hit a grand slam at Wrigley in '86 or so), Keith Moreland, Bob Dernier, Jody Davis...I could go on. I could also go on about my one brief encounter with Harry Caray...
Found it and scanned some pages! Posting right now.
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