Andre Dawson Elected into Baseball Hall of Fame 2010

Cubs baseball player Andre Dawson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (AP Images)
Andre Dawson was one of the premiere sluggers of the 1980s, but other than one season the outfielder never put up those ridiculous power numbers that all of the steroid-taking players did in the 1990s and 2000s.  

Thus it’s fitting that the "clean" Dawson, the 1987 NL MVP winner for the Chicago Cubs (when he had career highs with 49 homers and 137 RBIs), was elected Wednesday to the Baseball Hall of Fame. "The Hawk" was the only player on the ballot to make it for 2010.

Dawson was the first player ever to be named league MVP for a last-place team and was an eight-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner. He played 21 years with four teams (mostly Montreal and the Cubs) and topped 20 homers 13 times and drove in 100 or more runs four times – those are excellent numbers for his era if dwarfed today thanks to steroids and small ballparks. Dawson, who also hit better than .300 five times, is one of only three players in baseball history with 400 homers and 300 steals, joining Barry Bonds and Hall of Famer Willie Mays. He finished his career with 2,774 hits, 438 homers and 1,591 RBIs. He will be the 68th outfielder in the Hall of Fame and 46th player overall with Cub connections.

A player needs 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America to gain entry to Cooperstown, and Dawson received 420 out of 539 votes (77.9%) in his ninth year on the ballot. He received 65.9 percent of the votes last year and got 15 more votes than he needed this time.

Pitcher Bert Blyleven, in his 13th year on the ballot (you only get 15 maximum) was second with 400 votes (74.2%), five shy of the 405 votes needed this year. Second baseman Roberto Alomar was third with 397 (73.7%) -- his vote total was the highest ever by a first-year player who was not elected. It was the first time in BBWAA balloting that two candidates failed to gain election by fewer than 10 ballots. Both players seem likely to get in next year as there is a fairly week class coming eligible in 2011. Players become eligible five years after retirement and can gain election for the next 15 years unless they receive less than 5 percent of the vote.

If you are wondering, former single-season home run champ Mark McGwire, who ranks eighth on baseball’s home-run list with 583 but has steroid questions surrounding him, got 23.7 percent of the vote, his best result. Last year he was named on 21.9 percent of ballots.

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