First of all congratulations to The Hawk Andre Dawson for being immortalized in Cooperstown. Andre Dawson received 77.9% of the vote of the required 75%. He was the only player voted in by the Baseball Writers (BBWAA) in 2010.

The real news story however is that so many baseball fans are up in arms over this BBWAA selection. It could be argued that there are 10 men on the above list that have had equal or better careers than Andre Dawson. In truth, Andre is a border-line Hall of Fame inductee, like Jim Rice was in 2009, and Bruce Sutter was in 2006.

Even with so much statistical analyis available and player evaluation research in the area of baseball sabermetrics, and even with living smack middle of the instant Information Age with the global internet and real time reactions to reporters on website, the old school BBWAA still blew it this year by choosing Dawson over others. Which others?

Well, any Stat Head could tell you 9and this is a case where I agree with them) that Roberto Alomar was one of THE TWO premier 2B in baseball in the from that era. It was Alomar and Ryne Sandberg who were kings. Stat Heads know that Bery Blylven is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball history and it is riduclous that he gets passed over year after year for “just” having 287 wins, instead of 300. Stat Heads will tell you all about how Tim Raines should have been elected already, his only “crime” being that he was always in the shadow of Rickey Henderson. Stat Heads believe in the DH, so they don’t see why the BBWAA passed over Edgar Martinez, who, quite frankly, has hitting stats that are astronomical. Stat Heads know that Fred McGriff got screwed with only 21.5% of the vote. If the Crime Dog had 7 more HR, he would have hit 500 and have been elected.

And, of course, we have the Mark McGwire issue. McGwire is still serving his punishment for not speaking to Congress. The truth is McGwire is still the best candidate on the ballot if you value HR, walks, and run production. And since it’s the Hall of FAME, you should consider that after McGwire only Don Mattingly has any real MEDIA or casual sports fan recognition on this ballot. Most Stat Heads don’t think it’s right for McGwire to sit this one out again because not voting for alledged steroid users opens up a can of worms: The BBWAA won’t elect Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero and friends? What about Gary Sheffield, who for some reason managed to distance himself from those guys? What happens to Pudge Rodriguez? What about the mounting evidence that Mike Piazza asked for- and received- a Free Pass ™ from the MEDIA  about his use when he was with the Mets. And shouldn’t the BBWAA give borderline pitchers like Mike Mussina and -yuck- even Curt Schilling credit for winning over 200 games against these steroid supermen? Shouldn’t the BBWAA ignore the self-imposed “you must win 300 games to be elected” fake rule?

Another thing that Stat Heads gripe about is about all the relative support JACK MORRIS gets. In fact, I read thousands of message board posts from the anti-Jack Morris crowd (imagine if these fans devoted their energy to community service?). Basically Stat Heads hate the Jack Morris support because it’s based on the ONE World Series game he’s famous for. His career ERA was 3.90 in a pitcher’s era. He was only called an “ace” because he was…well…with the Tigers. He is inferior to Blyleven on every level, and not an all-time 1980′s great just because happened to amass the most wins in the 1980′s,

Anyway, Andre Dawson is an OK borderline HOF pick. I liked the Hawk as a player. The world did not collapse just because he was selected. We survived Jim Rice’s nomination. But a handful of guys from the 2010 ballot would have been even better, and should have been voted in this year. Other continue to be put on hold for years.

As the years march on, the old stubborn writers will get phased out and the younger generation will pick more worthy candidates on the first try.

Andre Dawson Majestic Cooperstown Throwback Player Name and Number Chicago Cubs T-Shirt

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