Thursday, November 19, 1987/The Battalion/Page 11
Cubs’ Dawson caps good year
by capturing the NL MVP award
NEW YORK (AP) — Andre Daw
son of the Chicago Cubs became the
first member of a last-place team to
be named Most Valuable Player,
winning the National League award
Wednesday.
Dawson, a free agent whom no
dub bid for last winter, led the ma
jors with 137 runs batted in and tied
for the home run lead with 49.
He beat St. Louis shortstop Ozzie
Smith by a 269-193 margin in voting
by the Baseball Writers Association
of America.
“I tried to be realistic and not hold
out too much hope,” said Dawson,
who admitted he thought the Cubs’
poor finish could hurt his chances.
“I’m thrilled despite a pretty dismal
season by the ballclub.”
Dawson, 33, was so intent on play
ing at Wrigley Field this year that he
left the Montreal Expos and signed a
blank contract with the Cubs during
spring training.
Then-general manager Dallas
Green filled in the dollar amount of
$500,000, making Dawson the sec
ond-lowest paid regular on the team.
"I wanted to convince the baseball
world that I would indeed perform
better under different circumstances
— those circumstances being to get
away from the AstroTurf and onto a
natural playing field,” Dawson said
during a news conference at Wrigley
Field.
Jack Clark, Smith’s teammate on
the National League East champion
St. Louis team that finished I8V2
games ahead of Chicago, was third
with 186.
Montreal’s Tim Wallach was
fourth, and San Francisco’s Will
Clark was fifth.
Cy Young winner Steve Bedrosian
of Philadelphia finished 16th.
Dawson and the two Clarks were
the only players named on all 24 bal
lots.
Smith was named on 22. Two as
sociation members in each of the 12
NL cities were eligible to vote.
Dawson got 11 first-place votes,
Smith had nine, Jack Clark three
and Wallach one.
“I’m not disappointed,” Smith
said. “It’s one of those things I didn’t
give much thought to. Hopefully, I’ll
wake up tomorrow.” Smith batted a
career-nigh .303 with 75 RBI and 43
stolen bases.
He committed 10 errors, tied for
his fewest ever in a season.
As much as Dawson wanted to
play in Chicago, the Cubs, burned by
multimillion-dollar free agents con
tracts in the past, were reluctant to
have him.
But Dawson, 33, prospered with
his best year while the Cubs
struggled along at 76-85.
as-
CFS
13 RBI, both
Dawson batted .287 and played a
strong right field while also surp
sing his previous top power numtx
of 32 home runs and 1
in 1983 with Montreal.
He earned an additional $150,000
for staying off the disabled list and
an extra $50,000 for making the All-
Star team for the fourth time.
He did not have an incentive
clause in his contract for winning the
MVP.
Dawson, vowing last winter he
would not return to the Expos for a
12th season, rejected salary arbitra
tion and tested the free-agent mar
ket.
The Expos offered a two-year
contract worth $2 million, and no
other team topped that figure.
From the start, Dawson wanted to
play at Wrigley Field, where he had
hit .346 in his career.
At that point, he had averaged
one home run for every 16.8 at-bats
during the day compared to one per
each 37.1 at-bats at night.
Dawson joined Ernie Banks and
Chuck Klein as the only players
from losing teams to win the MVP
award. Banks won it in 1958 and
1959 while playing shortstop for the
Cubs, who finished fifth in the eight-
team NL in both seasons.
Klein won it with Philadelphia in
1932.
Houston "Spiderman" safety rides
omen to strong outing, starting job
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HOUSTON (AP) — Had he not
been one of the University of Hous
ton’s “Spidermen” defensive second
ary, safety Randy Thornton likely
would have dismissed the incident.
But when a spider crawled atop
his helmet on the locker room floor
prior to Saturday’s 37-7 victory over
Temple and stared up at him,
Thornton was quick to see the sym
bolism.
Cougar defensive coach Pat
Thomas nicknamed his charges
“Spidermen” in honor of his cousin.
Spider Lockhart, a former pro de
fensive back who died of cancer.
Thornton stared back at the spi
der and then put his helmet on and
played one of his best games of the
season, regaining his starting job
and his hopes for a pro contract.
“I started to kill that spider, but he
just kept looking at me,” Thornton
said. “Maybe he was telling me some
thing.”
Inspired by the spider, Thornton
threw a web around Temple. He
had eight tackles, knocked down a
pass and returned an interception
19 yards for a touchdown.
Thornton was benched after the
opening game of the season. He had
seen only spot duty most of the sea
son. It was not what Thornton had
anticipated for his senior season.
“At the beginning of the year, my
dream was to go to a bowl, then go to
some senior bowls,” Thornton said.
“Then in the middle of the season,
we were losing and I wasn’t playing.
“In the pros, if you get put on the
bench, you still get paid and you still
ride home in your Mercedes or
Porsche. But in college, when a guy
is benched, it messes with your
head.”
Thornton expected his senior
year to be a showcase for the pros,
the year he’d put it all together. In
stead, after starting for three sea
sons, he found himself on the bench.
“Many nights I sat up wondering
if I should go to truck-driving school
or something,” Thornton said. “I
kept thinking Tm never going to get
drafted now.’ ”
But Thornton earned his job back
in the Cougars’ 60-40 victory over
Texas two weeks ago when in a sub
stitute performance he had five
tackles, returned an interception 17
yards for a touchdown, caused one
fumble and recovered another.
“Everything happens for a rea
son,” Thornton saict. “I think it (get
ting benched) was good for me.
Right now I’m so hungry to play,
that I’m trying to show people that I
wasn’t one of those high school All-
Americans who came out with a big
name and couldn’t do anything.”
Although the Cougars are last in
the Southwest Conference in total
defense, they lead with league with
18 interceptions.
Teammate Johnny Jackson re
turned three interceptions for
touchdowns against Texas, setting
an NCAA record (several schools
had held the record of two). Thorn
ton’s touchdown return gave the
Cougars a team-record four scoring
interception returns.
Despite a two-game winning
streak, the Cougars will go into Sat
urday’s game against Texas Tech
with a 3-6 season record and 1-4 in
the SWC.
“You look around and see all the
talent on this team and you say ‘why
are we losing?”’ Thornton said. “It’s
like a mystery story. There’s no way
we should have lost to some of the
teams because of our talent.”
The Red Raiders, 6-4, are trying
to wrap up another bowl invitation
with a victory over the Cougars.
But Texas Tefch hasn’t beaten the
Cougars in Houston since 1953, and
Thornton wants to continue the win
ning string.
“I feel like if Houston can’t go to a
bowl game, then Texas Tech can’t
either,” Thornton said. “I’m not
going to be the only one Christmas
and New Year’s watching the bowl
games at home.”
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