I think this era that we are currently living in (2010 and beyond) is a crucial moment in the future of baseball in Montreal. I mean major league baseball has been gone for over 5 years now, there's sports fans coming up who have no idea that the Expos even existed you know? All the new kids these days, they don't know about it.
I think what should be done now is keep interest in the Expos alive, on the minds of this generation and following ones so that at some point....when the montreal economy gets better or some big Rich Guy with a lot of dough like Bronfman comes on the scene again at point in the next 25 years or whatever...the memory and the interest in the entity that was the Expos is still on people's minds, and the want or need to have the team return is still there in generations to come.
So I mean you gotta keep talkin' Expos even though there gone, cause if no one talks about it no one in the next generations will care at all. They'll care about soccer these kids, with the running, or the UFC with all the punching and mongoloid brutality. the great experience of baseball will be lost, the intricate tactical underpinning and grace of a game like baseball will be dissolved from the montreal sports atmosphere.
What I think should be done now by those who lived in the Expos era...is even exagerate the history into legend, to keep the spirit alive. When I tell kids about Timmy Raines, I talk about him like he was larger than life you know. Make them really want Major League Baseball here again. When I tell the younger generation about Dawson I talk about him like I'm talking about a Greek God or something...like Poiseidon or something eh.
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Andre Dawson
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-NICKNAME-
This data was retrieved from Warren Cromartie's great book "Slugging it Out in Japan"
The Old Cro says the name was derived and evolved from Dawson's original nickname which was the Cobra! He said, even as a rookie Dawson didn't take guff from nobody even veterans on the team like Tony Perez or Pete Rose....but he wasn't a violent guy though...he did it all with stares and the look in his eyes. He'd like hunch his shoulders up like a COBRA and HAWK you down with his eyes. It was a predatory style nickname for an intense guy. Dawson was a well respected dude, a real stoic and silent leader type.
A little proof here illustrate how intense Dawson was:
When the Expos played the Astros in the Eighties, they would sometimes run into a guy named Nolan Ryan. Nolan Ryan used to be pretty intense himself and he had this thing where if you'd hit a homerun off the great Nolan Ryan, he'd walk to third base and wait for the you on your homerun trot to round third and then GLARE at you to show his internal discontent over losing the pitcher-battle duel....but there was one guy he would never do it to.....he would never do it to Andre Dawson. Andre would just Hawk him down.
I think Nolan Ryan avoided it for same reason the Americans and Russians avoided using nuclear arms in the Cold War. Just Imagine the Electrons of Nolan Ryan's intensity bouncing off the Protons of Dawson's intensity during that staredown and ultimately culminating in an inevitable nuclear explosion.
Being Disrespected by the cops
It wasn't all roses for the Hawk in Montreal you know. In 1981 after getting to the post-season for the first and only time, Andre Dawson and Jerry White were mistaken for criminals in front of the Eaton Center downtown....
Here's a quote from Dawson's book:
"As we walked along, three men approached us from behind. Each had a gun. Two men came up behind Jerry and me, put their guns to our heads, and forced us, face first, against a wall. I was shocked and scared. I began to panic..." -A. Dawson & T. Bird, Biography (page 49)
To sum it up, the police said they matched the description of of two robbery suspects, threw them up against a wall and threatened to kill them if they moved, then opened their wallets and saw who they were and let them go. That's not good to treat the Hawk like that.
Collusion of 87
The owners got together and agreed that they would not sign any player for more than the contract he had at that time. So players who were deserving of a raise were being given contract offers of significantly less than what they warranted, and when they tested the free agent market for better offers it was the same thing. The owners agreed not to give any player any good contract. So Dawson's there in 87 going "why am i being offered 250,000 dollars when the highest paid guy in the league who was Mike Schmidt was getting over 2 million." The players didn't know about the collusion, the expos front office justified the offer by telling Dawson he was washed up and wouldn't get any more anywhere else. so Dawson getting this 250,000 chump change offer took it as a real insult.
-ERIC SHOW-
He was one of the most respected hitters in the league. Guys used to throw at him all the time. He lead the league in being hit by pitches 3 times. The worst was the psycho Eric Show of the Padres who was a nut case (he died of a overdose in the nineties)...he was nuts...he was in a branch off group of the KKK called like the John Birch Male Christian League Society or some crazy thing, and he hit Dawson in the left cheek bone with a pitch which resulted in a bench clearing brawl which at least showcased the wrestling talents of the great Rick Sutcliffe.
