Commenter ralphdibny was a young Cubs fan in the late 80s and supports Dawson’s enshrinement even if he agrees that maybe he falls a smidge short, objectively speaking. He may be on to something with this:
Perhaps there should be a line on his plaque that reads “While his statistics aren’t quite Hall of Fame worthy, Dawson evokes a considerable nostalgia in baseball fans for a bygone era that justifies his induction.”
If we are going to rip others for their ridiculous biases, after all, best to
acknowledge our own.
Fair enough. I trotted out that line of reasoning to all my friends when Will Clark and Eric Davis were up.