Andre Dawson vs Ozzie Smith: The battle for the 1987 NL MVP
The 1987 NL MVP award came down to two players: Andre Dawson, the best player on a bad team and, Ozzie Smith, the best player on a great team.
Each year when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) votes for the Most Valuable Player award they must determine if the award goes to the league’s best player or the player who helped his team succeed the most.
There is no better argument for this scenario than the 1987 NL MVP award which pitted Andre Dawson against Ozzie Smith to determine who would win the hardware at the end of the year.
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Dawson was an interesting case to begin with. He was a free agent after spending his entire career with the Montreal Expos. He was looking for a good payday though was met with only low ball offers in what he deemed was collusion amongst the owners.
In the end, Andre Dawson gave the Chicago Cubs a contract signed with his name and told them to fill in the dollar amount. They penciled in $500,000, less than half of what he was paid the year before.
Ozzie Smith was the acrobatic, gold glove shortstop, who was lovingly nicknamed the Wizard of Oz. By 1987 the stat-stuffing speedster was already a veteran of two World Series, even taking home the MVP award in the 1985 NLCS.
The battle for the 1987 NL MVP
Where Andre Dawson Fit On His Team
Andre Dawson set out to prove he was worth more than the contract he ultimately signed and began a one-man barnstorming tour through the National League. The Cubs offense was actually good in 1987 leading the league in home runs, topped by Dawson’s 49. They just couldn’t win games.
The hitters were third to last in the league in walks drawn. They were third in the league in strikeouts by hitters. They ranked in the bottom half of the league in runs scored. The 1987 Cubs were all or nothing, feast or famine before that’s what baseball players were paid to do.
Keith Moreland and Leon Durham provided some power and Jerry Mumphrey hit .333. A young Rafael Palmeiro was just getting his bearings about himself and Ryan Sandberg had a down year by Ryan Sandberg standards.
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The lack of production helped lead to a 76-85 finish, worst in the six-team National League East. The hitters weren’t the only ones to blame, however. The Cubs pitchers walked the most hitters in the league, gave up the second-most hits in the league, and had the second-worst earned run average.
Added all up the Cubs were bad, and their record stated as much. Andre Dawson was not bad, and his stats that year stated as much as well. Dawson led the league in home runs and runs batted in while hitting .287. The All-Star would win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award later in the year.
The battle for the 1987 NL MVP
Where Ozzie Smith Fit On His Team
Ozzie Smith did what he did when he walked on the baseball field and the 1987 season was no exception. He was a flashy player with the glove and a solid but not strong offensive force. Smith had been an All-Star six times prior to the ’87 campaign but he was a fan favorite for his pizazz in the field not his results in the batter’s box.
The St. Louis Cardinals were establishing themselves as a World Series contender in the 1980s for the first time since the Bob Gibson days of the late 60s. They won the World Series in 1982 and came up just short in 1985, losing in Game 7 to the Kansas City Royals.
Their 1987 team had a home run hitting Jack Clark and a run-producing Willie McGee. Vince Coleman stole 109 bases that year and scored 121 runs from the leadoff spot.
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The Cardinals had a league-worst 94 home runs, 115 less than the Cubs. The Cardinals walked the most and stole a league-high 248 bases while scoring the most runs in the league. The pitching staff walked the least amount of hitters and surrendered the least amount of home runs.
The 1987 team manufactured runs with old school National League style baseball and grinded out wins the hard way. They finished atop the NL East division with a record of 95-67.
The battle for the 1987 NL MVP
Head to Head
When Andre Dawson and Ozzie Smith are put side by side and their stats are compared, the tale of the tape reveals two top players who are good for their teams for entirely different reasons.
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Dawson was expected to hit mammoth home runs, he did with 49. He was expected to drive in runs, he did with 137. Dawson scored 90 runs in 1987 more than half the time he drove himself. Earlier in his career, he stole a lot of bases (253 in his years in Montreal) though now he was more of a power hitter than a speed threat (the concrete surface he played on in Olympic Stadium aided in this). Dawson walked just 32 times as well that year.
Smith was expected to get on base and wreak havoc, he did with 182 hits and 89 walks, propelling his 43 stolen bases. Smith drove in 75 runs from the number two slot in the batting order (thank you Vince Coleman), and scored 104 runs while not hitting himself in once. He finished with zero home runs.
The Most Valuable Player Award is an award given to the league’s best player, not the best player on the best team. Andre Dawson was the best player in the league and deserving of the 1987 NL MVP award.
Individually he put up tremendous numbers compared to his rivals. He was the winner of the award and deservedly so. He showed what he meant to his team. The Cubs wouldn’t have won 60 games without him in the lineup.
Had the Cardinals been without Ozzie Smith, they could have fallen back on Jack Clark, who finished 7 points behind Smith in the 1987 MVP voting. Smith was a very nice supplemental piece to a well-oiled machine. Had he been removed, some patchwork could have been done to keep the machine running. His numbers were not worthy of the MVP award in 1987.
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Both Dawson and Smith went on to Hall of Fame careers and their talents, though different, were incredibly valuable to the game of baseball.