Top 5 Cards; Andre Dawson

One of the most interesting players of his era and in Baseball history, Andre "Hawk" Dawson played 21 seasons for 4 different teams, primarily the Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos.

Truth be told, I feel as if I'm mentioning this information about Dawson for the first time since I started my blog way back in August of 2017. In 20+ months that have passed since I first started blogging, I've talked about countless topics, players, and teams.

However, even though I've written over 500 posts, I feel as if I've barely mentioned the 1987 NL MVP whatsoever, and I'm pretty confused as to why. He's one of my gold tier player collections as I have around 150 cards of his; he's played for my 3 favorite teams in Baseball history (Cubs, Red Sox, Expos). 

But most of all, Andre Dawson is just a really fun player to collect or to talk about. I was shocked to find that I hadn't written a top 5 cards post for the 8-time All-Star thus far and figured he'd be an excellent candidate for today's post. 

I also unintentionally selected only cards of Dawson on the Expos for the top 5, though there were numerous Cubs cards that almost made the list. As much as I adore my non-Expos Andre Dawson cards, it's hard to beat powder blue uniforms and the uniqueness of the Montreal Expos.

I just checked my list and, it turns out, I have 158 cards of Andre Dawson, making him my 19th largest PC. Again, it's surprising for me to hear that I haven't written a top 5 cards post for him yet considering the wide selection of players that I've already done this kind of post for.

I had an extremely difficult time narrowing down this particular group of cards to a top 5. Even though the end result will feature only Expos cards, I'm quite pleased with the list that I came up with.

#5 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber

Cards of Andre Dawson in a powder blue Expos uniform, especially those produced after his retirement, are a dime a dozen, so it takes a real standout to impress me enough to make the top 5. In fact, the only card that fit the criteria above that was able to do so was the '04 Donruss Leather & Lumber card above.

The brown background highlights the powder blue uniform more so than most other Andre Dawson cards do. Rather than using a traditional white border with a ballpark background, this color reflects the name of the set while also allowing the photo of Dawson to instantly stand out.

#4 1997 Upper Deck

98% or so of my Andre Dawson player collection consists of Cubs and Expos cards; that leaves 2% for the other 2 teams that he played for, the Red Sox and the Marlins. While I have around 8 cards of Hawk in a Red Sox uniform, cards of the Hall of Fame outfielder on the Marlins are much rarer.

Hence, this is my only card of Andre Dawson as a member of the then Florida Marlins, but I still thought it would be an excellent choice for this list. The card is from the very end of his Hall of Fame career, and I love the look of the teal Marlins uniform along with the copper towards the bottom of the card.

Unfortunately for Dawson, 1996 was his last MLB season, meaning he didn't play for the 1997 World Champion Florida Marlins. Thus, the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year retired without a World Series ring.

#3 1984 Donruss

The powder blue uniforms are making a return, this time from when Dawson was an active player. Although I've never had any strong feelings, positive or negative, for the 1984 Donruss set, I must admit that this set does an excellent job, like the Leather & Lumber card, of highlighting Dawson's uniform.

The yellow and purple are a superb accompaniment to the classic Montreal Expos uniform and helmet, and the image is nearly perfect for the set. The card itself is a little on the plain side. However, in this case, plain works incredibly well.

#2 1978 Topps

Topps has utilized a few different rookie cup designs over the course of their company's history and while the tall ones from the 1960s will always be my personal favorites, the rookie cup on Dawson's 1978 Topps card is also pretty nice.

His '78 Topps card is even more simplistic than the previous entry on this list because it features an incredibly standard Topps set and a plain white jersey instead of a crazy powder blue uniform. Like '84 Donruss, I don't have a strong liking for the 1978 Topps set, but in the case of Dawson's card, everything blends together extraordinarily well.

#1 1981 Topps

As far as Topps cards from the 1980s are concerned, Dawson's from 1981 Topps is pretty much as good as it gets. Like all the cards on this list, it makes excellent use of the set design, but the photo takes this seemingly ordinary product to an entirely new level.

The powder blue uniform, both caps, the hair, the number being on the front of the jersey, the green on the bottom of the card and in the background. All of these aspects contribute to create one of the most underrated cards of this era. 

I've never seen a huge appeal as far as the 1981 Topps set is concerned, probably because most of the cards are rather boring and standard. However, Dawson's '81 card defies all expectations, and that's why and how it earned the #1 spot.