Yet Another Reason To Hate Phil Rogers

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, the Hall of Fame has decided that Andre Dawson will wear an Expos hat when he is enshrined into the Hall next July. While I found the news mildly disappointing, I saw this as an issue that could've gone either way. It just happened to go the way that I didn't prefer.

Well, Phil Rogers saw this as an issue that could've gone only one way and in his eyes the Hall of Fame got this no-brainer decision correct. The reasons, however, are astonishingly stupid.

Given the popularity of the Cubs, Dawson's preference and the relocation of the Montreal franchise to Washington, the easy call would have been to point to Dawson's MVP season in 1987 as the reason to use a Cubs cap for his plaque. But Dawson gave Montreal 10 extremely good seasons, including eight in which he either won a Rookie of the Year award, made an All-Star team, received votes for MVP or won a Gold Glove.

Fun fact: Andre Dawson won the Rookie of the Year award a record 8 times during his 10 seasons in Montreal.

Along with guys such as Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Jeff Reardon, Ellis Valentine, Warren Cromartie, Larry Parrish and Tim Wallach — among others — he was part of a remarkable run for the Expos' player development staff and, no matter what he thinks about the turf at Olympic Stadium, belongs more to Montreal's fans than any among us in Chicago.

I defy you to make any sense of that sentence. It's impossible.

Dawson's legacy in Chicago lies in the blank-check contract, the MVP season — never mind that last-place finish — and the consistent good vibes between him and fans who were basking in the development of Wrigleyville bars and restaurants, the charisma of Harry Caray and the retro cool of a ballpark that avoided lights until 1988.

I love this argument. Montreal = Pure baseball crazed fans. Chicago = Outdoor beer garden goers who love the sun. Advantage: Montreal!

These are all great things, for sure, but for Dawson there was no Carlton Fisk moment in Chicago. He somehow had seven more playoff hits in Montreal (of all places) than he did with the Cubs, as he was 2-for-19 in the '89 NLCS against San Francisco.

Very true, he did not have a "Carlton Fisk" moment in Chicago. I've always held it against him that he never hit a game-winning home run in Game 6 of a World Series. He also never had a Kirk Gibson moment, a Don Larsen moment or a Bobby Thompson moment. Oh well, at least he never had a Bill Buckner moment either.

Give the Hawk a significant role in getting the Cubs to the World Series and I would join him and you in arguing that he should be immortalized as a Cub. Sadly, the lasting memory of Dawson in that '89 series is the agonizing look he wore on his face limping back to the dugout after too many strikeouts and popups.

After reading Phil Rogers' take on this, I'm not sure if we're debating whether Dawson should wear a Cubs or Expos hat when he is enshrined, or if he should even be enshrined at all?