Posts tagged ‘Andre Dawson’

Congratulations to Andre Dawson, the best Cubs right fielder I ever saw. Sheps and I will have a new episode in the next day that discusses the voting as well as everything else going on in Cubdom.

According to Dawson, as of twenty minutes before the announcement he hadn’t heard anything. Then the call came in…

Time to celebrate! And speculate on the hat he’ll wear in Cooperstown. So nice to see this become a trending topic on Twitter. Every few seconds a hundred Dawson messages are popping up.

“No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen.” – Ryne Sandberg

Join us and Cubs fans everywhere at 1:20 p.m. Central Time today, and tweet #Dawson4TheHall until our hands collectively ache.

This is going to be a fun day.

(Photo Credit: kvanb50)

All event details can be found by clicking here. We are set to begin the push at 1:20 p.m. Chicago time on Tuesday 12/8. It’s only a few days away!

We need everyone involved to pull this off. If you click on the Share button to the left of this post, there’s an easy way to e-mail your contacts or share the #Dawson4TheHall details via social media sites like Facebook.

Be creative! This push is for all Cubs fans and Andre Dawson supporters. If you don’t have a Twitter account, create one now.

To change your background, login to Twitter and go to Settings > Design > Change background image. Browse your computer for the new background file and then click “Save changes.” Not too tough.

Twitter Background 1 (White)

Twitter Background 2 (Light Blue)

Twitter Background 3 (Brown)

These were created by Tim Souers over at Cubby-Blue, please do yourself a favor and check out his excellent artwork (and sense of humor).

Andre Logo – 504px wide by 497px tall

Andre Logo – 300px wide by 296px tall

Text Banner – 728px wide by 90px tall

Text Banner – 468px wide by 60px tall

Text Banner – 360px wide by 42px tall

To add a twibbon to your Twitter profile photo, click here and press the blue “Show my support now” button. Thanks to Julie over at League of Her Own for the suggestion!

Thanks to all the great Cubs fans and Andre Dawson fans that responded to this idea on Twitter and in the post below earlier this week. This project is a go!

We’re calling on all Cubs fans to post comments that include the special hashtag #Dawson4TheHall to Twitter starting on Tuesday December 8th at 1:20 PM Central Time. Tweets must include the #Dawson4TheHall hashtag in order to be counted, and we also recommend that the #cubs and #mlb tags are included.

The goal, you ask? We want to draw as much attention as possible to Dawson’s bid (his 9th) to become elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. If enough people send tweets using the #Dawson4TheHall hashtag, it will become a trending topic on Twitter. The timing could work out very well as many beat writers and journalists (some of whom have an actual ballot to cast) will be keeping an eye on Twitter to monitor the winter meetings from Indy that day.

Please tell all the Cubs fans you know! If everyone tells 5 people and so on, this has a good chance of working. Show your support for one of the best Cubs outfielders ever!

Big thanks to Tim Souers from Cubby-Blue for creating these awesome graphics.

Media Note:
If you are looking to cover this event and need a quick interview, please send an e-mail to hosts@cubscast.com or find us on Twitter, we’re @cubscasthosts.

There much to be said about yesterday’s devastating 6-5 loss to the Braves, and without a doubt today’s episode of Cubscast (we’re recording in a couple hours) is going to be pretty lively. Going from a no-hitter and 5-run lead and ending the game the way the Cubs did was excruciating, and though it was almost entirely due to the bullpen, something else has bubbled up to the surface that I can’t ignore any longer.

Alfonso Soriano is never going to be my favorite player. I like him, I acknowledge the fact that he is instant offense as evidenced again on Tuesday, but I also acknowledge that his contributions in other areas are terribly lacking. I remember watching Andre Dawson in my formative years and seeing a full spectrum of on-field skills. He quickly became my favorite Cub, and always will be. He was a fearsome hitter, a great fielder with a cannon for an arm, and a guy that knew how to run the bases. However, it isn’t because of glowing memories of Dawson that I don’t accept Soriano’s on-field effort. It is because Soriano has these abilities but isn’t using them, and no one knows why.

Yesterday as I pondered Soriano’s misplay (bobble, bad throw) on Escobar’s single in the 12th, all this came to mind. And yes, it’s nit-picky because it didn’t even cost the Cubs a base. It cost them in other ways, though, and has already cost them this season. You don’t have to be a stat freak to realize that teams are trying to score from 2nd on Soriano more than they have in years past, and why the heck not. A quarter of the time he doesn’t pick up the ball and throw it cleanly.

That wasn’t the capper, however. The play that made this post possible was the game-ending single by Chipper Jones, which went right to Alfonso. It wasn’t clear from the play (or the replay) what happened with that ball when it got to our left fielder, but Escobar scored without a throw, and that is unacceptable. Yeah he probably was going to score anyway, but either Soriano misplayed it, or he ate that ball and decided in his own mind that the Cubs had lost. If it’s the latter, he’s got an even steeper hill to climb in my book.

So Alfonso, it’s time to choose your own adventure. Do you realize that your game has become one-dimensional? You aren’t the same player the Cubs acquired several seasons ago. Will you do whatever you have to do so that you can run full speed again? Full speed isn’t first gear, fyi. Will you take some extra time and work on your fielding? The coaches are paid to help you, but the word on the street is that you’re unapproachable when it comes to criticism. Choose wisely, and young Cubs fans will place your baseball cards in hard cases instead of between bicycle spokes.

I don’t know what will happen with this Cubs season. People getting paid to write are saying that game was a turning point. I just hope the bulb goes off for Soriano and he actively tries to improve his game. Otherwise we’re stuck with Adam Dunn.