Why Andre Dawson was a Badass

When YouTube first emerged onto the scene there were very few things I wanted to see posted more than video of the Eric Show beanball to Andre Dawson. I remember watching this game as a kid. It was one of the most unbelievable moments I ever saw. Well finally someone posted it.



Things of note that I remembered from that incident.

• Rick Sutcliffe going apeshit and being one of the first guys out of the dugout.
• After laying on the ground for a while, Dawson finally comes to and goes ballistic as he takes off after Show on the field.
• After getting Show to retreat into the dugout, Dawson attempts to go down into the Padres dugout after him.

The following inning, Greg Maddux beans Benito Santiago in the back and gets ejected. Rick Sutcliffe shared his take on Maddux in that game in an article he wrote last year for ESPN discussing beanballs.

The one incident that I remember most is from 1987, when Padres pitcher Eric Show hit Dawson in the face. I wasn't pitching that day, actually a young Greg Maddux was, but I'd had a feeling that the Padres might be out to get Hawk. I even said something to him about it, telling him I didn't have a good feeling. He had hit two home runs the night before and another in his first at-bat of the game. Then, in the third inning, Show drilled him in the eye with a fastball. People may remember that I charged the mound from the dugout when that happened.

Before the game, management had told Maddux that if he didn't get the win he'd be sent down. Knowing that, as I was getting ejected for fighting, I told him to go out and get through the fifth inning to get that win he needed before thinking about retaliating. He wasn't hearing any of that. I reminded him that he needed to get that win or else he was going back to the minors. He told me he didn't care if he got another win in his whole career. And the very next inning with the lead and two out and no one on base Maddux got payback by hitting Benito Santiago in the back as hard as he could. That tells you what kind of teammate Maddux was even starting out. He got sent down the next day, but his teammates knew what kind of guy he was. People might not expect it from a mild-mannered guy like him, but he would protect his hitters as much as any pitcher I ever played with.

Awesome, so not only did that incident lead to one of the most memorable bench-clearing brawls I've ever witnessed, but it essentially gave a young Maddux his first opportunity to earn respect from his teammates.