Hawk: An Inspiring Story of Success at the Game of Life and Baseball [Paperback]

Andre Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1996

Hawk is baseball star Andre Dawson's inspiring testimony of succeeding against all odds, both on the field and in life. There are never-before-told stories from Andre's past, including his struggles with racism, and how he was able to help teammates both on the diamond and off. His is a story of love in action, love for God and love for the game.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Zondervan (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310206642
• ISBN-13: 978-0310206644
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,535,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars HAWK SOARS, July 17, 2010

By 

COOL JEWEL (MACEDONIA, OHIO USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hawk: An Inspiring Story of Success at the Game of Life and Baseball (Hardcover)

HAWK IS ABOUT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF FORMER MLB STAR ANDRE DAWSON. I REALLY DID LIKE THIS BOOK. I ALWAYS THOUGHT HE DID NOT GET THE CREDIT HE DESERVED AS A GREAT PLAYER. HE SPENT MUCH OF HIS CAREER WITH TEAMS THAT WERE OUT OF THE MEDIA RANGE LIKE THE EXPOS AND WERE VERY MEDIOCRE. HE LATER HAD SOME VERY GOOD YEARS WITH THE CUBS AND WENT TO THE PLAYOFFS FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME IS CAREER. ANDRE WAS A VERY GOOD 5 TOOL PLAYER DESPITE A VERY BAD KNEE THAT LED TO HIS RETIREMENT. HE ALSO MENTIONS HIS LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN AND HOW IT HELPED HIM THRU MANY DIFFICULT TIMES. ANDRE WENT THRU SOME VERY DEVASTATING DEATHS AND WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER A KIND OF MIRACLE PREGNANCY HE AND HIS WIFE WERE BLESSED WITH. ANDRE SEEMED TO ME AS A CLASSY PLAYER ON AND OFF THE FIELD AND THIS BOOK SOLIDIFIES THAT. I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS. IT IS AN EASY AND ENTERTAINING READ.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Man Called Hawk, February 24, 2002

By 

Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hawk: An Inspiring Story of Success at the Game of Life and Baseball (Hardcover)

Looking at a list of autobiographies of Hall of Fame-quality baseball players, one would think that Andre Dawson's would be one of the better ones. He flourished for 20 years with forgettable teams, finishing with 438 home runs and 314 steals, a terrific combination of power and speed. He was also one of the highest-profile victims of the 1987 owner collusion that rocked the sport, and the first player from a last-place team to be named Most Valuable Player of his league.

However, "Hawk" is completely run-of-the-mill. At less than 200 pages in length, and written at a junior-high-school reading level, it's a book I read in one weekend. Entire years of Dawson's career fly by in a single paragraph -- and even then it was written two years before he retired. What few individual games he describes, are poorly-remembered: there are some annoying statistical errors that could have been resolved by Dawson's co-author merely looking at boxscores.

Dawson's biography is really about his Christian faith, and about the support of his family through lean times. The book came out through a Christian publishing division, so that's no surprise. The final chapter ends with a sermon about living positively and an invocation to the Lord.

In terms of being a good baseball book, there's an intriguing early look at current star Alex Rodriguez (Dawson writes in 1994). There's a good concise history of the ownership-players labor strife, and two memorable stories: one about Dawson's signing wih the Cubs in 1987, and another about a shocking act of racial prejudice in Montreal. But in the long run, the stories of faith are inferior to Dave Dravecky's in "Comeback", and the labor history falls short of even "Ball Four".

"Hawk" is aimed primarily at Christian teens, and works best when read on that level. When Dawson is elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003, however, his autobiography will not go with him.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book for a Christian, September 15, 2007

By 

Teresa S. Goss (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hawk: An Inspiring Story of Success at the Game of Life and Baseball (Paperback)

Me.. being a Christian teen, I really enjoyed this book. It was a good read, but kind of short. The one part though that made me not give this book a five is that it was published before his career was over. He said he could now walk away from the game knowing his career was over. (1994). But Hawk actually did come back with the Marlins the next year. It was a good book, and an easy read.