There is debate as to what hat he should wear. (And it should be a Cubs hat...if hadn't played for the Cubs, he would still be trying to get into the Hall...simple as that.)
And I mentioned immediately after he was elected that debate would start to occur as to whether or not the Cubs will retire his number. Sure enough, it has.
Well, I'm going to discuss not whether or not the Cubs will retire Dawson's number 8, but whether or not they should retire it.
An interesting precedent was set last season when the Cubs retired Greg Maddux's number. Maddux had barely finished his retirment press conference before the Cubs announced that they would be retiring his number. That's kinda strange for a player who had his best years in a Braves uniform and only pitched on one of the Cubs 3 playoff teams over the span his career, and that was in 1989. Maddux's numbers as a Cub were not all that exceptional. He had a Cy Young season in 1992 and had one other very good year as a Cub in 1989. That was really about it. He was, in my opinion, the best pitcher in the 1990's, and he did start his career as a Cub. But to retire his number that quickly just seemed a little out of place.
Over the last 25 years, if you ignore Maddux, the Cubs have been very slow to retire any numbers. The first number to be retired, 14, didn't happen until 11 years after Ernie Banks retired and 6 years after he was elected into the Hall of Fame.
The second number was Billy Williams's 26. He waited 10 years to have his number retired. Ron Santo waited even longer, but the previous two had been elected into the Hall of Fame. Santo didn't.
Ryne Sandberg had his number retired the year he entered the Hall of Fame, in 2005, only 7 years after retiring.
What was one theme of all of those players? They all play almost their entire career in a Cubs uniform. All of their accomplishments were done in Cubs uniform.
Then last year Greg Maddux had his 31 retired. This was a co-honor since Hall of Famer, Fergie Jenkins was also part of the 31 retirement ceremony. While Jenkins didn't spend all of his career in Chicago, he spent more time in Chicago than with any other team. He had his best seasons with the Cubs.
Should Maddux have had his number retired? Well, judging by the stats and his career history, if he deserved to have his number retired, than a good arguement can be made that Dawson's should be retired too.
But I think that neither of them should be bestowed with this honor. It really lowers the standard for which a number could be retired.
If Dawson's number is to be retired, then a re-examination of other players needs to happen. How about this list:
42, Bruce Sutter
2, Billy Herman
17, Charlie Root
44, Phil Cavarretta
43, Bill Nicholson
48, Andy Pafko
9, Hank Sauer
6, Stan Hack
What about doing a ceremony in a few years to retire 16 for Aramis Ramirez? Don't you think he's earned the honor? No? Me neither.
I'm not sure the foul polls could handle all those flags being placed on them.
And remember, like it or not, Sammy Sosa's 21 will be retired at some point too.
The foul pole in 2015?
But back to the point, should Hawk's number 8 be retired? Well, if we retired 31 in honor of Greg Maddux, which I believe is a questionable thing, Dawson's #8 pushes the level of what constitutes getting a number retired even lower. One could argue that Derrek Lee's career as a Cubs has been better than Dawson's, but I don't think anyone would say Lee should have his number retired after he leaves baseball. Forget about the Hall of Fame, forget about what hat he'll where...it comes down to what a person did for a team. Yes, Dawson had one great year in Chicago, 1987. He also had a couple of other very good seasons.
Dawson was the face of the franchise during some bad times and I think that should be enough for him to go into the HOF as a Cub.
But that isn't enough for him to warrant getting his number retired.
