Andre Dawson Randomness On The Day Of His Election Into The Baseball Hall Of Fame!!!

I apologize for the style of this post.  If you’ve visited my blog before, you know that I like to be clear and concise with my writing.  Bur right now I don’t know if my fingers can keep up with my head.  So many Dawson-filled thoughts are flying through my head, hopefully I can keep up.

*First off, I need to thank my wife.  She broke the news to me at 2:04PM this afternoon.  At my new job surfing the web is prohibitted.  Luckily cell phones are not so I eagerly answered the phone in mid-ring and got the great news.  She read me the article from MSNBC.com and I really appreciate that she made this a priority in her life today too.  She is also responsible for posting my ‘Tears of Joy’ post that I wrote last night.  I gave her a crash course in publishing a post, and she did great – Thanks Mandy!!

*You bet your ass I wore my Dawson t-shirt to work today!!!

*Upon leaving work tonight I threw on my normal sports radio program and ‘The Hawk’ was live on the air talking about his day.  It was a great segment to hear and being just a few hours into it, you could tell that the whole thing had not sunk in yet with Andre.  He was on his way to the airport to make the trip to NYC for the official press conference. 

*I wonder how much round-trip tickets to the nearest airport to Cooperstown costs in July.  I’m going to have to check into that. 

*I have so many things I still want to collect that honor Andre.  I’m a bit nervous that the renewed life his items will get may negatively affect my collection – what do you think??

*The hat.  Which hat??  This one or that one??  OMG!!!  If I had to guess, I would say Cubs.  If the Expos were still in business it would be a tight race, but the Cubs should have that one locked down.  The Red Sox and Marlins should be thrilled that he played for them, but his plaque won’t feature their logo!!

*After ZERO new releases by any of the major baseball card companies in 2009, hopefully his election will bring some new cards during the 2010 collecting year!!

*I now know how Brad feels!!!!  My wait was  a bit longer and more stressful than his – but to have your favorite player honored in this way is a great feeling!!!

*I didn’t want to jinx anything today but I prepared a little care package for Andre last night and gave my wife clear instructions on if it should be shipped or not.  Obviously it was shipped this afternoon.  The contents – a ‘Congtrats’ card, a baseball with the hopes of an autograph and HOF inscription, and  a heartfelt letter to Andre telling him how much this day means to a fan like me!!

*I wonder if anyone is going to retire Andre’s jersey now?  If the Marlins do it, you better believe that I will be there!!

*I have roughly 40 items featuring Andre Dawson in my ‘Watching’ bucket in Ebay.  I’m interested to see what his HOF election does to these auctions and their prices.

*Hall of Fame postcards – I’ve always wanted to pick up some of those.  July sounds like the perfect time to round them up…

*McFarlane never made a Dawson figurine.  If that changes I may have to get my first one!!!

*People are congratulating me today and it feels good.  My cell phone is ringing a bit more than normal.  And my Inbox had a lot more mail than usual for a Wednesday afternoon.

*Congratulations Andre.  Today is a wonderful day for you, your family and friends, and your fans.  You have been deserving if this honor for several years – the wait is now over but it was worth every minute!!!

Tears Of Joy!!!

It has just been announced that Andre Dawson is part of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010.

This is a thrilling moment for ‘The Hawk’, his family, friends, and fans.

I have wanted this for him, his fans, and myself for so many years – This is a wonderful moment!!!

Congratulations Andre, my friend.  You are right where you belong!!!

Fingers Are Crossed!!!

Today is a very big day.

In just a few short hours, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will announce their class of 2010.

And if everything goes well, Andre Dawson will finally be tagged as a Hall of Fame player and get his spot alongside the greatest players to have ever played the sport of baseball.

How am I going to get any work done today???

Uncle Moe Delivers A Perfect Stack Of Cards!!!

Uncle Moe was the second reader of my blog to respond to my ‘Help Me Complete My Greg Maddux And Darryl Strawberry Collections‘ post.

He offered up a 1986 Donruss Highlights card of Darryl and I quickly accepted and provided him with shipping instructions.

Well, the card has arrived and it’s a great one.

But, Uncle Moe did not stop there.  He sent me a handful of cards of the guys that I collect.  He was generous and spread the wealth as he sent me some more Strawberry cards as well as a few Eddie Murrays a Dave Winfield an Andre Dawson and some Maddux cards as well.

And if that was not enough, he also sent me 3 Andre Dawson Zellers cards too!!!  These are sweet and vintage – exactly my taste!!  The cards are part of either a 9 or 12 card set put out by Zellers department store out of Canada.  Produced sometime in either the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, the cards feature a young Andre Dawson from his days playing for the Montreal Expos.

Thanks Uncle Moe – you really outdid yourself on this one!!!

And for any of you that have not visited his blog, you should take the time to do so.  He and his son are on a mission to collect the entire 2008 Topps set – SIGNED!!!  That’s right, their goal is to obtain each and every of the 990 cards from the base and update sets and have all of them autographed.  Amazingly, he is closing in on #200 already!!!

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #24

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #24

Andre Dawson 2003 Donruss Signature Series – Notable Nicknames

An absolute ’Must Have’ for an Andre Dawson fan, this Notable Nicknames card is awesome!!!

Numbered 405/750, Donruss did a great job with this bad-boy!  While incorporating several different design elements, they did an excellent job of keeping 100% of the focus on Andre and his mighty swing!!

The colors of the card’s design work and really allow for the Blue an Red of the Cubs’ uniform to PoP!!!

Andre has one of the most popular nicknames in baseball, and Donruss did ‘The Hawk’ and his fans justice with this release!!!

Great work!!!

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #23

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #23

Andre Dawson 2004 Leaf Lumberjacks

This is one of those cards that could have been so much more if the designers had put a little more thought into it.  Serial numbered 31/438, I am wanting more than I got with this one…

I get the whole ‘lumber’ reference – and it’s a good one.  Andre Dawson swung some heavy lumber during his days and he has 438(the cards are numbered to 438 too) home runs to show for his efforts. 

But the card lacks originality.  More than half of the card is empty space.  The Dawson photo is the smallest element of the design.  And the pictures of trees make sense but don’t bring the card and it’s theme together. 

Donruss had a great idea with this card – if it were properly executed it could have been a classic.

If I had the ability to create one of these ‘Lumberjack’ cards, I would have started with a faded background of nothing but bats alternating from top to bottom.  They would be clearly visible but faint so they did not detract from the main features.  From there, a picture of Andre dead-center with him wearing an old-school Expos uniform.  The picture would be an action shot, with him appearing to have just crushed a home run.  For the lettering of the card, they would be both in the header and footer of the card set in Expos, powder-blue banners.  The lettering would have a similar appearance to what letters on a bat look like – with that ‘burned’ feel.

Oh well, that is just my 2 cents – not like anyone cares about that…

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #22

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #22

Andre Dawson 2002 Donruss Classics – LEGEND

Numbered 674/1500, this card is perfection!  I love each and every design element that Donruss incorporated into the card.  And what’s best about it is that no single part of the design takes away from the great color photo of Andre.

The Gold colors throughout give the card a sense of royalty.  And then you add the Cubbie Blue banner with Dawson’s name and you have a very eye-catching headline!!  The bottom of the card brings it all together with more Gold accents and another banner featuring the word ‘LEGEND’. 

Easily one of the classiest cards I have picked up of ‘The Hawk’!!! 

Perfecto!!!

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #21

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #21

Andre Dawson 1988 Topps Coin

This was another fun little oddball that I picked up recently.  I had seen these on Ebay for quite some time, but never pulled the trigger.  Luckily Craig included one for me in his ‘Grab Bag #2′ so my hunt was over.

The Topps coin is a nice piece, and it fits perfectly in a top-loader that is designed for thicker cardstock. 

If you’re a player collector, and your guy has a coin/card, get one!  They’re pretty cool!!

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #20

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #20

Andre Dawson 1994 Fleer Extra Bases Bookmark

This is the second Andre Dawson bookmark that I picked up at the baseball card show I attended in December.

Again, being featured in a Boston Red Sox uniform, this card was issued by Fleer in 1994.  The photo is the centerpiece and it features an action shot of Andre watching the ball sail into the outfield.  I have to wonder if this one turned into a hit or an out.  I guess we’ll never know for sure, but I will say he got on base safely…

That is now 2 Andre Dawson bookmarks – and both are from his days with the Red Sox.  Hopefully I can find one of him in a Cubs’ uniform soon!!!

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #19

Countdown To 2010 – 24 Dawsons In 24 Hours – Card #19

Andre Dawson 2004 Leaf Limited

I’m not sure what to make of this one.  Having a serial number of 95/499, I like the card, but I don’t love the card.

For me, the card is just too dull.  With such dark, and boring color choices overtaking the background, the card has very little life to it.

It’s cool to see Andre in his Grey Cubs uniform, I just wish that Leaf would have put a little more effort into this one…