Andre Dawson, Awesome Guy
CrazyMind2017
Posts: 1,205 ✭
Just got back from the MAB show in New Jersey, where I met Andre Dawson for a signing appearance. I've gotten several dozen autographs in person, and I've had good luck in that the signers are usually in a good mood when I reach the front of the line (it helps that I'm not a fan of Willie Mays and I had extremely low expectations for Reggie Jackson). I got Schmidt, Sandberg, and Mattingly at separate appearances a year ago, and they couldn't have been nicer, and both Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson were really friendly to me even though I wasn't even getting anything signed by them, but Andre Dawson today was fabulous. Quiet and soft spoken, but extremely friendly. He took unprecedented care in signing his name and the inscription I wanted and it came out perfectly, all while listening to a story I was telling him about the first time I got his autograph 21 years ago.
I was 11 and I was with my parents on vacation in Montreal. The Cubs were in town and staying at the same hotel, so I got a good 10-12 Cubs signatures, including Maddux, Grace, Dwight Smith, and others. I missed Sandberg and Mitch Williams, and Dawson was the toughest one I managed to get at the time. There was a huge crowd around him near the elevator, and my father pushed his way in, but Dawson wouldn't sign for him. He was only signing for kids, so my father grabbed me, gave me the pen and paper, and helped push me closer. When I recounted this story for Dawson today, he smiled and nodded, and he said, "That's right."
Then he asked me where's my kid. At first, I thought maybe he had misunderstood the story, so I tried to clarify for him, "No, I was the kid," but then he repeated the question, so I told him I don't have any kids. He handed me the piece that he had just signed and I saw what a great job he did signing it, so I was very pleased, and I thanked him while shaking his hand. Then when I got home and dusted off the old autograph I got from him back in Montreal 21 years ago, it hit me. I didn't realize it when he asked me, but I think if I'd had a little kid with me today, Dawson probably would have signed an autograph for free, without charging the regular $49 signing fee.
Here it is, on stationary from the Montreal Sheraton.
I was 11 and I was with my parents on vacation in Montreal. The Cubs were in town and staying at the same hotel, so I got a good 10-12 Cubs signatures, including Maddux, Grace, Dwight Smith, and others. I missed Sandberg and Mitch Williams, and Dawson was the toughest one I managed to get at the time. There was a huge crowd around him near the elevator, and my father pushed his way in, but Dawson wouldn't sign for him. He was only signing for kids, so my father grabbed me, gave me the pen and paper, and helped push me closer. When I recounted this story for Dawson today, he smiled and nodded, and he said, "That's right."
Then he asked me where's my kid. At first, I thought maybe he had misunderstood the story, so I tried to clarify for him, "No, I was the kid," but then he repeated the question, so I told him I don't have any kids. He handed me the piece that he had just signed and I saw what a great job he did signing it, so I was very pleased, and I thanked him while shaking his hand. Then when I got home and dusted off the old autograph I got from him back in Montreal 21 years ago, it hit me. I didn't realize it when he asked me, but I think if I'd had a little kid with me today, Dawson probably would have signed an autograph for free, without charging the regular $49 signing fee.
Here it is, on stationary from the Montreal Sheraton.
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