Buck O'Neil recommended Dawson to Cubs in ' 75

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- The late Buck O'Neil played an instrumental role in sending some great players to the Cubs, including Ernie Banks, Lou Brock and Lee Smith. He could have had another huge find had then-GM John Holland and scouting director Vedie Himsl followed another of his recommendations.



Montreal scout Mel Didier spotted Andre Dawson playing in a 15-inning scrimmage game for the Florida A&M Rattlers before the 1975 season. He remembers him as a "skinny center fielder'' who hit two grounders with "overspin that chewed up the infield grass,'' and the Expos would take Dawson in the 11th round of the draft.

O'Neil regularly scouted Florida A&M and knew all about his potential. He even had the Rattlers' head coach move Dawson to shortstop at one point during the season for an audition as a middle infielder - "I hurt my arm throwing sidearm,'' Dawson said - and pushed the Cubs to selected Dawson, according to some interviews. But Himsl had used the second pick of the '75 draft on Lee Smith, another O'Neil recommendation, and decided not to give him two picks in the top 10.

O'Neil filled Dawson in on the background at a banquet in Chicago one winter. "There was the possibility of the Cubs drafting me,'' said Dawson, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame Sunday. "But it never manifested itself.''

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