Will Hall of Fame have Cub Dawson doff an Expo chapeau?
On jerseys, on photos, on baseball bats and on baseball after baseball, new Hall-of-Famer and Cubs legend Andre Dawson grabs a pen in his left hand and meticulously goes to work signing hundreds of autographs for his army of fans. Every signature is identical, easily legible, every loop perfect.
"My aunt, my first-grade teacher, she kept me after class every day. She punished me," Dawson says to fans who compliment him on his penmanship. That same dedication to the job at hand is how Dawson became the only player ever to win a Most Valuable Player Award while toiling for a last-place team.
"I just like to slow things down. I don't like to rush," Dawson says. "If I rush, my hand gets tired."
There's no doubts about Dawson's work ethic or talent to the more than 250 fans who flock to Field of Dreams store Saturday in the Woodfield Shopping Center in Schaumburg to get Dawson's autograph.
"He's the first person I remember loving besides my mom and dad," gushes an emotional Emily Wynn, 24, who grew up in Arlington Heights and was only 2 years old when Dawson smacked 49 homers in 1987 for the Cubs. "I have all his games on VHS."
When Wynn talks about the way the man nicknamed "The Hawk" played ball for her Cubs, she gets a little teary-eyed.
"It was all for the fans," she says.
And those fans want Dawson to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Chicago Cub. But Dawson spent his first 10 years playing for the Montreal Expos. He signed the Andre Dawson Expo bobblehead figure that Wynn made a special trip to Olympic Stadium in Montreal to get during the Expos final season.
The Hall of Fame hasn't finalized the decision about whether Dawson's Hall of Fame plaque will show him wearing a Cubs hat or doffing a Montreal chapeau.
If fans could vote, "it would be a landslide," Dawson says, flashing a pure Cubs smile. The Expos no longer exist, and it's clear Dawson is a Cub at heart.
"I'd like him to have that C on his hat. I don't think of him as an Expo. I think of him as a Cub," says Cubs fan Adam Collins, 26, of McHenry. "He's my favorite Cub of all time. He did things right. He's 'The Hawk.' He's awesome."
Collins' chance to get an autograph in person was a present from his fiancee Kim Krok, 26, of McHenry.
"I'm a White Sox fan," Krok admits. "But every since I knew him (Collins), he's been talking about it (Dawson entering the Hall of Fame)."
Having gone more than a century without winning a World Series, Cubs fans can handle the disappointment if the Hall of Fame declares Dawson an Expo.
"I'm a huge Cubs fan, but it would not bother me at all. I'm an Andre Dawson fan," says Harry Mercado, 46, of Chicago. He even brought along an old Dawson #10 Expo jersey for his hero to sign.
"It (going in as an Expo) wouldn't diminish the fact that he was a great player," says Harold Weidner, 67, of Marengo. His wife, Barbara, 65, shows off Dawson's autograph on her Cubs purse and says she'll think of Dawson as a Cub regardless of what the Hall of Fame does.
"Considering they are not a team anymore, putting him in as an Expo seems like a waste," says Kyle Larson, 22, of Plainfield.
Dawson did win a Rookie of the Year award with Montreal, and as an Expo he once hit two home runs in the same inning against the Cubs at Wrigley. That must have been a once-in-a-lifetime memory.
"Not really," says Dawson, who joins Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey as the only players to accomplish that feat twice. "I did it in Atlanta once."
No matter what team gets to accompany him on his Hall-of-Fame plaque, Dawson will be grateful.
"Aren't you tired of being congratulated?" asks the 200th or so fan to have congratulated Dawson.
"No," Dawson says with a smile as he signs an "HOF 2010" next to his autograph. "I was told it would a wide ride. Enjoy it."
As the only player elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010, Dawson no doubt will prepare his Hall of Fame speech with the same meticulous attention to detail that he signs autographs and played baseball.
"I've got a lot of things to think about, and how I want to say it," Dawson says softly, before allowing himself a slight smile. "I'm the only one up there. I can't strike out."