If you love baseball…

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Today, I watched the induction ceremonies for the 2010 baseball hall of fame. One of the inductees was Andre Dawson, an outfielder who played 21 seasons for four different teams.

The “Hawk” as his uncle nicknamed him as a youngster, had blown out a knee in high school from what sounded like playing a different sport. Bad enough that he had to have an operation. He then went on to play college ball wearing a brace. He must have done well cause he was drafted by the Montreal Expos.

He played ten years in Montreal on artificial turf at exhibition stadium. He blew his knee out again during that Montreal stretch and had to have another operation. After that tenth season, he decided there was no way he could continue playing on artificial turf, (plus he was offered a pay cut) so he became a free agent. Unfortunately, no one wanted him.

When it came time for spring training, he was still not signed. Andre wanted to play baseball. Every one told him he’d had it and it was time to move on. But, Andre still wanted to play. So, his agent, Dick Moss came up with a brilliant idea. They arrived at the Cubs spring training and approached them with an offer. Let Andre try out with the Cubs and Moss handed them a contract with all the numbers blank. Give him what you feel he’s worth. It was dubbed the “blank check contract.”

The Cubs gave him a half million bucks, cutting his pay by 2/3’s. The Hawk responded by hitting 49 homers, making the All Star’s, and being the league MVP.

Andre went on to play another 10 seasons after that for the Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins. Along the line, he had another knee operation and after baseball had both knees replaced.

During the Hawks induction speech, he made this statement many times. “If you love baseball, baseball will love you back!”