Very Young "Hawk"...Andre Dawson

BuckHunter68

Hey guys! A little over a year ago, I began a quest that has proved more difficult than I had planned. I've always collected original photos and film negatives, but I wanted to get the earliest original negatives--in uniform-- of my favorite players. A few great finds but, mostly, dead ends. I recently cracked open a huge lot of Denis Brodeur negatives from the mid 70's. There are about 80 2 1/4" black and white negatives. As I sifted through the likes of Duke Snider, Gene Mauch, Steve Rogers, Del Unser, Larry Parrish, Ellis Valentine and countless minor-leaguers that never made the big leagues, I got to the prize. Spring training negative of Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson from 1976! He didn't make the club that year but did get a call-up in September.

craig44

that is pretty awesome!!

Kid4hof03

That is beautiful!

BBBrkrr

That is so cool. Especially the Ellis too. He was a good player.

BuckHunter68

Lost in the shuffle is how great the images are. Given the backlight ( Denis was shooting backlit--he must have known how the film would capture) he was able to grab startling detail with ZERO blowouts. Valentine, Cromartie and Dawson. What an exciting outfield. In every hobby, there are premium items. Oddly, in this lot, the ANdre Thornton is the most "valuable". He was with the team for a short time and to have an original camera portrait of him is remarkable. This is, undoubtedly, the finest image of Thornton as an Expo. He was traded from Chicago to Montreal in May of '76. Chicago dealt him to Cleveland in December of '77. Not a lot of time there for Denis to get a portrait. Must've been for a promotional thing? Anyway, cool image of the guy I call "baby Easter" after Luke Easter.

ANDRE THORNTON

ELLIS VALENTINE (one of the best throwing arms of all time) Cocaine may have ruined his career

WARREN CROMARTIE (line-drive machine)

DUKE SNIDER (Coach and, later, broadcaster)

GENE MAUCH (dreadfully underrated manager--one of the games best, ever)

BuckHunter68

@BBBrkrr said:
That is so cool. Especially the Ellis too. He was a good player.

You know your stuff. Ellis Valentine, at the start of his career, was throwing with a cro-hop at 103 MPH in the outfield. His power was absolutely absurd. As a 20-year old, he hit a ball in Memphis that hit a BBQ stand and injured a 26 year old woman that was stationed 515 feet from home plate. The ball hit her on a short-hop and deeply bruised her orbital bone.
He ran a 6.32 60. He was a more explosive player than The Hawk, but cocaine grabbed him. It hurt Dawson so badly because he loved Ellis. When Tim Raines arrived, Dawson vowed to get him away from the Cocaine when he fell victim to it....it saved Raines' career and possibly his life. Raines named his first born son after Dawson. For the record, Valentine--hearing of the injured woman--actually went to the hospital and paid her bill--even though he was making virtually nothing. He was a cocky, friendly, wonderful man and player.
I scouted for 27 years--you hear things.

BBBrkrr

@BuckHunter68 said:

@BBBrkrr said:
That is so cool. Especially the Ellis too. He was a good player.

You know your stuff. Ellis Valentine, at the start of his career, was throwing with a cro-hop at 103 MPH in the outfield. His power was absolutely absurd. As a 20-year old, he hit a ball in Memphis that hit a BBQ stand and injured a 26 year old woman that was stationed 515 feet from home plate. The ball hit her on a short-hop and deeply bruised her orbital bone.
He ran a 6.32 60. He was a more explosive player than The Hawk, but cocaine grabbed him. It hurt Dawson so badly because he loved Ellis. When Tim Raines arrived, Dawson vowed to get him away from the Cocaine when he fell victim to it....it saved Raines' career and possibly his life. Raines named his first born son after Dawson. For the record, Valentine--hearing of the injured woman--actually went to the hospital and paid her bill--even though he was making virtually nothing. He was a cocky, friendly, wonderful man and player.
I scouted for 27 years--you hear things.

The Expos of the 70s/80s were so cool. They weren't always a great team but they had great players who, unfortunately, couldn't always consistently keep it going year to year. Plus, their unis rocked (wife and I were in Quebec City last year for the first time ever and the only souvenir I bought was an Expos t-shirt).

Those photos are awesome and I didn't even know Andy (as he was called when he first got to the show) was ever in their organization.

I'm a bit biased because I grew up just outside Memphis, though I haven't lived around there in almost 40 years ( )

BuckHunter68

I loved their uniforms!!! Didn't like the thick double-stripe down the sides as much as the thin piping of the 69-79 sets.