Has to be one of the best rookie years, up there with 1967 (Seaver & Carew) and 2001 (Pujols and Ichiro)!
In the National League Dawson was yet another good-looking prospect with Montreal at the time, joining guys like Ellis Valentine, Gary Carter and Warren Cromartie, yet ending up as the only one to win the Rookie of the Year Award.
Dawson edged out New York Mets prospect Steve Henderson by hitting 19 home runs with 65 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases, along with a .282 batting average.
In the American League you had future RBI-machine Eddie Murray, who just set the table for what was to become an incredible 21-year career by hitting 27 homers, with 88 RBIs and a .283 batting average. Basically, you could pencil that average in over the rest of his career as he’d go on to knock in 1917 RBIs and hit 504 homers, while collecting 3255 hits with a .287 average the rest of the way.
The man was a model of consistency, knocking in over 90 RBIs twelve times, including six 100+ seasons, along with 20+ homers 16 times!
Two absolute studs of the game who happened to come up at the same time, and both ending up as members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
