MONTREAL — Maybe there’s a better way for an old baseball man like Johnny Elias to celebrate his 70th birthday, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one.
On July 25, at the personal invitation of one of his best baseball friends – former Montreal Expo André “Hawk” Dawson – Elias and his wife, Marlene, will be in Cooperstown, N.Y,. to personally witness Dawson’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dawson is joining the hall with his Expos cap on, not as the Chicago Cub that he was for the last five years of his career (1987-92)
“Am I going? You’d better believe I’m going,” said Elias, a former Expos batting practice pitcher who’s been involved in baseball as a player and coach for half a century. “Hawk invited me personally.”
The Hawk-Elias friendship dates back to the time when Dawson, now 56, was establishing himself as one of the best outfielders of all time, an eight-time National League all-star who amassed 409 home runs and 962 extra-base hits over a 16-year career that ended because of knees made bad by the unforgiving surface of Olympic Stadium.
During the years Elias threw batting practice, Dawson was one of the many Expos who dropped by Cote St. Luc’s Kirwin Park to give baseball tips to youngsters at Elias’ Grand Slam Baseball School.
Other Expos who used to come to the school during the school’s mid-1980s heyday to help out were a baseball who’s who, including another close friend and hall-of-famer, catcher Gary Carter, as well as outfielder Tim Raines, pitchers Steve Rogers, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Dennis Martinez, and more.
Elias, who is also widely respected as a basketball referee, was also invited to Carter’s Hall of Fame induction in 2003.
“I have to say, André was always willing to come out to my school,” Elias recalled. “He would come out and spend two hours there, showing them hitting and fielding.
The friendship has endured, as both Dawson and Elias have taken part in an annual “Legends Game” each February raising money for the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla.
For Elias – a southpaw who pitched with the Baltimore Orioles and in the Florida State League, and who brims with baseball anecdotes and can probably drop more famous baseball names per minute than Vin Scully – the Hall of Fame event will be yet another memorable baseball event among many others over the years.
“We are really looking forward to it,” he said.
