10 seasons on the artificial turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium were taxing indeed on the knees of Expos outfielder Andre Dawson. (Dawson played his rookie campaign on natural grass at Jarry Park.) A free agent in 1987, Dawson desired nothing more than to return to a grass surface—particularly, that of Chicago's Wrigley Field, whose cozy dimensions had been quite inviting to "The Hawk" throughout his career. So fitting was the match in Dawson's eyes that he offered to sign a blank contract, asking only that the Cubs fill in the dollar amount as they saw fit upon seeing his production. Refusing to do so, the club signed Dawson for a bargain basement price of $650,000. What ensued was an assault on National League pitching not soon to be matched. In his inaugural season as a Cub, Dawson hit 49 homers and drove in 137 runs while becoming the first-ever player to be lauded MVP while toiling for a last-place team. A sizable piece in the rebuilding puzzle (the Cubs were to win the National League East title in 1989), Dawson remained a pillar of consistency, delivering 24 homers with 79 RBI and a .303 average in '88. Under new skipper Don Zimmer, the team improved to fourth place that season.

Offered here is a Chicago Cubs home jersey worn during his 1988 season and signed by the Hall of Famer. The white pullover jersey with blue pinstripes and blue trim on the collar and sleeves features the iconic “Cubs” circular “C” logo on the chest. A circular Chicago Cubs alternate logo is featured on the left sleeve. “RAWLINGS” is embroidered in white on the blue trimmed-right sleeve. A Rawlings size “44” manufacturer’s tag with a “SET 2 1988” flag appears on the inside collar. A white swatch labeled “8 88 3 44” in black is located on the inside collar indicating the player, year, set and size of this jersey. The number “8” appears on the back of the jersey in blue tackle twill. Dawson signed his name boldly and clearly with a black marker on the front left tail of the jersey. The jersey contains moderate amounts of game use, with a small stain under the right sleeve armpit, a small tear of the fabric on the chest, and a small stain on the mid front tail. The game used and signed Chicago Cubs home jersey worn by Hall of Famer Andre Dawson during the 1988 season and signed by the feared slugger comes with an LOA from Andre Dawson, an LOA from MEARS (310023) for the game use, who gave this jersey their highest grade of A10 and a LOA Beckett Authentication for the signature.

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