The National Baseball Hall of Fame intends to weigh Andre Dawson's request to change the logo on his plaque from the Montreal Expos to the Chicago Cubs, according to The Athletic's Patrick Mooney. Dawson, inducted into Cooperstown in 2010, recently authored a letter to the head of the Hall of Fame's board of directors Jane Forbes Clark arguing his case.
It's worth noting that the Hall of Fame stopped allowing inductees to have input on their hat logos in 2001, following rumors that teams were attempting to influence that decision through contract negotiations. It should be noted that Wade Boggs, the player most commonly cited in those rumors, has pushed back against their validity. "I think it came from when Jose Canseco said, 'If I get in the Hall of Fame, I'm going in as a Devil Ray,'" Boggs said in 2017. "And someone probably misconstrued that I said that and that Mr. (Vincent) Naimoli offered me a million dollars to be the first Devil Ray to go into the Hall of Fame, and that conversation never took place."
Regardless, Dawson was afforded no say on what hat his plaque featured.
"It's hard for stuff to bother me, to a degree. But this has toyed with me over the years for the simple reason that I was approached with the (announcement) that was going to be released to the press that I was going to wear an Expos emblem. I didn't agree with it at the time. But for me, getting into the Hall was the most important thing," Dawson told Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Sullivan this week.
"Over time, I've thought about it more and came to the (conclusion) I should have had some say-so … I personally feel my mission, for the rest of my life going forward if that's what it takes, is to right a wrong."
Dawson, a veteran of 21 big-league seasons, spent the majority of his career with the Expos. Nevertheless, he felt that his career changed for the better once he joined the Cubs in 1987. Over the ensuing six seasons, he batted .285/.327/.507 (125 OPS+) with 174 home runs and 18.8 Wins Above Replacement. He won the 1987 National League Most Valuable Player Award and appeared in five of his eight All-Star Games.
Dawson received 77.9% of the vote in 2010. It was his ninth year on the ballot.
