Andre Dawson

Category: Person Sub-Category: Athlete

Special Dedications: to my father, who gave me a rare Andre Dawson baseball card for my recent birthday; and to my friend Josh, who is also a huge Andre Dawson fan, and who is working hard, with uncommon skill, for positive impact.

Andre Dawson is among the greatest Major League Baseball players to ever play the game. However, if you happen not to have been a Montreal Expos fan in the late 1970s / early 80s, or a Chicago Cubs fan in the late 80s, or if you simply don’t care about baseball at all, please do not stop reading. This post is not really about baseball. Rather, it is about self-awareness, confidence, and the courage to take decisive action. These were Dawson’s strong suits, and, whatever your views on baseball, we can all learn and take inspiration from something unprecedented that he did in 1987.

Beginning by winning Rookie of the Year award in 1977, Dawson quickly established himself as a star in all aspects of the game. But his home field had a problem - Monreal’s Olympic Stadium was basically a giant concrete slab with a thin layer of artificial grass thrown on top. Over the years, this had taken a serious toll on his knees. And that wasn’t the only problem. The Expos home games were played at night in a dim, domed, artificially lit cave of a stadium in front of a lackluster fan base. The antithesis of this was Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the games were played during the day, in bright sunshine, on a beautifully tended natural grass field in front of fans (including my father and me!) who loved the Cubbies unconditionally (which was fortunate, because, had they been a Premier League football club, relegation would have been a constant threat).

When his contract with Montrael ended, Dawson had hoped to be signed by the Cubs. However, at the time, the team owners had illegally agreed not to bid against each other in order to keep salaries artificially low (and later had to pay nearly $300 million in damages to the players after losing landmark arbitration cases). As such, he got exactly zero offers to join any team (including the Cubs), despite being a bona fide star. This is where the story gets interesting. He boldly flew to Arizona, where the Cubs were preparing for the 1987 season, carrying a blank contract template. He met with the general manager, effectively handed him a blank check, and said,

“You fill in the numbers, and I’ll play.”

This was an absolutely unheard of move. Crazy. But, Dawson was so sure that Chicago is where he needed to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually, that he accepted a huge pay cut to make that move possible. He also had great confidence in his ability to succeed in this new environment. Want to guess what happened next? Well, he was right, and delivered a season for the ages (for the baseball fans: 49 home runs, 137 RBIs, and a Gold Glove; and the translation for everyone else: lots of great stuff, and even more great other stuff, topped off by exceptional stuff). The Cubs, on brand, were terrible, finishing dead last. However, Dawson won the league’s Most Valuable Player award, the only time in 149 years of Major League Baseball that someone on a last place team has been so honored.

Andre Dawson lept from “elite ballplayer” to “folk hero” and won an everlasting spot in the hearts of all Cubs fans. Also, as would be expected, his next contract with Chicago was for multiples of what he agreed to be paid in 1987. But the moral of the story is about so much more than money. The bold move to “The Friendly Confines” of Wrigley Field gave Dawson a new lease on life and allowed him to do his very best work. He knew what he needed, took the risks, and made the sacrifices required to make this a reality. His story would make a great movie script, but it was simply the life he chose to create. So today, as today is the annual MLB All-Star Game, we celebrate my All-Time All-Star, Mr. Andre “Awesome” Dawson.

And friends, that’s a wrap on post #12, only 2,488 to go. See you tomorrow with more from Hopefully Beneficial. Shalom and let’s keep going!