How Andre Dawson almost became a New York Met

metrotheme

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-33368-NY-Baseball-History-Examiner~y2010m1d28-How-Andre-Dawson-almost-became-a-New-York-Met

I sat down with the newest Hall of Famer Andre Dawson and former Mets manager Davey Johnson and found out how Dawson almost became a part of the Mets after the 1986 season. Imagine Dawson and Strawberry in the same outfield! There are some photos from the event as well.

bziddy

I remember that off season -- it was all about collusion

IIRC, Andre Dawson gave the Cubs a blank signed contract and asked them to fill in the salary they'd pay him for one year.

During the same off season, the Padres talked about signing Tim Raines (who got screwed). He ended up going back to the Expos in May of 1997. There was also chatter of the Padres talking to Rickey Henderson. I was having visions of an OF patrolled by Tim Raines, Rickey Henderson and Tony Gwynn. I can only imagine what kind of number they would have put up at the top of the Padres lineup.

metrotheme

I spoke to Billy Sample who got caught up in that whole collusion scandal and he said he wound up getting a settlement after it went to court (there is a NY Times article on it if you search), but that he felt he could still play and did well with the Braves in 1986. How many players would have done what Dawson did, take a below market contract in his prime?

Ironmanfan

cool article......

the ultimate result of baseball collusion was that they had to expand to two more teams (Colorado & Florida)

RedHeart54

I wonder if Cashen potentially had second thoughts after Andre hit 49 homers in '87 and won MVP.