Cooperstown Ballot

There is a new profile of Andre Dawson at MLB.com. He is up for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and has a few Hall of Famers in his corner, on his side, and pulling for him.

Tony Perez knows something about what type of player belongs in the Hall of Fame, which is why he's lobbying for Andre Dawson.

"We all respect the way he played and the way he played even when he wasn't 100 percent," Perez said of Dawson. "Talk to any player who saw him play or played with him or against him, and they don't understand why he isn't in the Hall of Fame."

Perez, inducted into Cooperstown in 2000, is hoping Dawson can join him. The slender slugger with the cannon arm is on the ballot for the seventh year, and his entry to the Hall will be determined by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Dawson's highest percentage of votes received was 61 percent in 2006. He is one of the top three returning vote-getters on this year's ballot. In the last ballot, Rich Gossage received 71.2 percent, Jim Rice 63.5 percent and Dawson 56 percent. A candidate must get 75 percent of the vote to gain election. Results of the 2008 BBWAA Hall of Fame election will be announced Jan. 8 on MLB.com's Hall of Fame Election Show, and the induction ceremony will take place on July 29 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

During Ryne Sandberg's induction speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2005, he mentioned former teammates he respected because they played the game right. Dawson was high on that list.

"No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson," Sandberg said of the rifle-armed outfielder known as "The Hawk." "He's the best I've ever seen.

There are other links at the story to brief sketches of former Appleton Foxes Harold Baines and Goose Gossage along with other Cooperstown hopefuls.

I'm sure that there will be a few more bios as the election nears.