Andre Dawson Hands the Cubs a Blank Contract

On March 6, 1987, Andre Dawson signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs for $500,000 plus incentives, roughly a third of his previous salary with the Montreal Expos. The deal came together after Dawson and his agent Dick Moss flew to the Cubs' spring training camp in Mesa, Arizona, uninvited, and presented general manager Dallas Green with a blank contract. Dawson told the Cubs to fill in whatever number they wanted. He just wanted to play on natural grass.

Dawson's knees were failing him. A decade on the artificial turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium had ground down the cartilage, and his doctors warned that continuing on the hard surface would shorten his career. The outfielder had been a free agent for more than four months without a single offer, a period later exposed as the product of collusion among owners to suppress free-agent salaries. Arbitrator Thomas Roberts would eventually rule that owners had conspired against free agents during the 1985 offseason, and arbitrator George Nicolau later found the same pattern in the 1986 and 1987 offseasons.

Green initially dismissed the blank-contract approach as a publicity stunt, calling it "a dog and pony show." But the chance to sign an established star for a fraction of his market value proved too tempting. The Cubs wrote in $500,000 and added incentive clauses that could push the total to $650,000.

Dawson responded with one of the finest seasons in Cubs history. He hit .287 with 49 home runs and 137 RBI, winning the National League MVP award despite playing for a last-place team. He became the first player ever to win the MVP from a last-place team. The blank contract became one of baseball's most celebrated negotiating gambits.