Bows again for Dawson at Wrigley

Andre Dawson entered Wrigley Field through the right-field door and received his customary bows from what few fans were in the bleachers Monday evening.

Dawson strolled toward home plate, where Cubs owners Tom, Pete and Laura Ricketts also saluted him with bows.

It was all part of Andre Dawson night at Wrigley Field, as the Cubs honored the Hall of Famer who played for them from 1987-92.

The Cubs did not retire Dawson's uniform No. 8, but they did present him with a No. 8 from the Wrigley Field scoreboard, among other gifts, which included a proclamation from Mayor Daley to mark Andre Dawson Day in Chicago.

Tom Ricketts called Dawson "one of the best players and one of the classiest people."

Dawson, as he has so many times, gave Cubs fans all the credit.

"I had the thrill of a lifetime those six years in this ballpark and in this city and before these fans," he said. "To have the opportunity to come back and be part of the organization, to me, it's a privilege, it's an honor for me to be here.

"I've addressed these fans on numerous occasions over the years. They, I think, were the ones who made the difference. I wouldn't necessarily say the organization. The fans. They were the ones that I was driven off their energy.

"I was thinking of leaving the game in a sense because of the history with the knee problems. They really fueled me to the point where the game was fun."

Dawson signed a blank contract before the 1987 season to play for the Cubs after being lowballed by the Montreal Expos, for whom he had starred for a decade. Dawson made a base salary of $500,000 plus $250,000 in incentives in winning the MVP for a last-place club.

"When the Cubs made me an offer, that, in essence, was an offer for me to turn down, to return to Montreal," he said. "But they made the mistake of making me an offer because I was going to stand up to it.

"If he (Cubs boss Dallas Green) had put $100,000 in there, I would have played that year for $100,000 because it was situation where I wanted the game to be fun for me again."