The Hall is Calling His Name

Ronnie Phillips is a guest blogger and welcomes your feedback.

On Wednesday, January 6, I’ll be at work sneaking my way onto the Internet in the blackjack pit instead of watching a guy lose 10 grand on a hand of blackjack because I’ll be too busy wondering if my all-time favorite baseball player makes it to the Hall of Fame!

Being a lifelong cubs fan, I’ve been waiting on this day for a long time. On his 9th attempt, Andre Dawson should be elected into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame…FINALLY! The Hawk finished with 67% of votes in 2009. Falling short of the 75% to be inducted.

Jim Rice and Ricky Henderson are the only two players that have finished higher in the voting last year and they are in the Hall. If Dawson can get by Barry Larkin and Roberto Alomar, who are in their first year of eligibility, he should be a lock for the Hall.

With having said all that…..What has taken so damn long?

Here are some of The Hawks career achievements:
8-time All-Star: 81, 82, 83, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91
8-time Gold Glove winner: 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88
4-time Silver Slugger winner: 80, 81, 83, 87
1977 NL Rookie of the Year
1987 NL MVP

Not only does it baffle me that Dawson is not in the Hall, it also baffles Hall of Famer's Tony Gwynn and former teammate Ryne Sandberg. In a recent interview Sandberg had this to say about his former teammate. "I hope he makes the Hall of Fame so all the young players would have a chance to revisit his career, to see his highlights and to understand how he did things," Sandberg said. "They would understand how the game was supposed to be played by watching Hawk."

Gwynn may be more confused on why Dawson is not in the Hall. "For the life of me, I can't understand why he's not in the Hall of Fame," said Gwynn, a Hall of Fame outfielder. "In Montreal, he was as good as there was in our league -- he did it all -- then he went to Chicago [in 1987] and turned it up another notch. When he went to Chicago, he was as good as everyone thought. When he hit 49 home runs [in '87], he was the guy on that team. Sandberg is a Hall of Famer, but you'd rather pitch to him than Dawson. He was clearly the best player in our league that year."

On Wednesday, Dawson should be getting that phone call that he has been waiting for, and it will be about time!!!