Andre Dawson is Finally a Hall of Famer

Andre Dawson has finally been deemed worthy of the Hall of Fame by a bunch of people who sit at computers and write about how he didn't walk enough to be considered truly great.  I had been building myself up to write yet another post about how Andre had been snubbed and how the world does not appreciate how good he was at the game of baseball.

Instead, I am like a little kid today.  I'm almost as giddy as I was when I first read in the newspaper that Andre was negotiating to come play for the Cubs as a free agent in 1987.  It was right there in the newspaper, but I didn't believe it.  He was too good to want to play for the Cubs.  Surely, the Cubs would figure out a way to screw that up.  Today feels much the same way for me.

I watched the announcement live on mlb.com, and as whoever that was from the Hall was reading about a true five-tool National League outfielder who had won Rookie of the Year, an MVP, and eight Gold Gloves, my fear was that somehow he was talking about someone else.

But then he said Dawson's name and there was no denying it anymore.  The Hawk is in the Hall of Fame and I can't wait for the induction ceremony.  He'll most likely have to ice down his knees in order to be able to walk all the way up to the podium for his speech.  It is guys like Dawson who make us jaded in our view of someone like Mark Prior, but the fact is that Andre must have had an almost super-human pain threshold.

Now all that pain and all the work he did to go out on the field every day is being rewarded.  Congratulations, Andre.

UPDATE:  Carrie Muskat has tweeted that Andre will be in attendance at the Cubs Convention next weekend.  Time can not pass fast enough.