October 1, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Former Chicago Cubs player Andre Dawson throws out the first pitch prior to the game against the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the 2025 MLB Playoffs Wild Card Round at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Image The Baseball Hall of Fame announced Wednesday that it has allowed Andre Dawson to recreate his plaque without the logo on the cap.
Dawson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 with a plaque bearing the Montreal Expos logo. The blank cap option was not offered until four years later.
“The Hall of Fame Board of Directors unanimously decided to provide a logo-free option for Andre Dawson’s Hall of Fame plaque,” Baseball Hall of Fame President Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. “This decision gives Andre the option he would have had if he had been elected in 2010, just four years before the alternative was officially implemented.”
No other changes will be made to the plaque, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Dawson said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude and special thanks to the Hall of Fame Board of Directors for providing me with an empty cap to ensure each club is fairly represented.”
Dawson, 71, played his first 11 Major League Baseball seasons with the Expos before joining the Chicago Cubs as a free agent in 1987. He won National League MVP honors in his first season with the Cubs and spent six seasons in Chicago before finishing his career with two years with the Boston Red Sox and then-Florida Marlins.
“I always felt like I was a Hall of Fame kid,” Dawson told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. “That’s what I’ve always associated with. That’s where my heart was.
“… All along, I felt like I should have been able to have some kind of say in the process. And for years, I ignored any attempts to entertain it. That’s just the way it was. And then when the protocols started to change and players picked up places where they didn’t want to wear the emblem, I just felt like I had to right the wrong because I wasn’t given that opportunity. Contrary to what I had hoped for.”
An eight-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, Dawson played in 2,627 career games for the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins, batting .279 with 438 home runs and 1,591 RBI.
–Field level media
