Raines: No more boycott from Dawson despite firing
Derek Jeter’s lifetime streak of avoiding serious controversy appears intact.
The specter of a revered Hall of Famer boycotting Jeter’s Cooperstown ceremony is unlikely to reveal itself. Jeter’s former Yankees teammate Tim Raines, a Hall of Famer himself, told The Post on Tuesday that he expects his great friend Andre Dawson — whose enmity Jeter had earned upon taking over the Marlins — to be on stage July 26 when Jeter makes his induction speech.
“The last I heard, some months back, they spoke to each other and it’s all good and he’s going to come,” Raines said in a telephone interview. “[Dawson] hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it. If he was planning on not coming, I’m pretty sure I would know.”
At last year’s induction ceremony, Dawson, who made the Hall in 2010, informed Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller that he didn’t plan to attend the 2020 event as a protest against Jeter, who fired Dawson — as well as his fellow Hall of Famer Tony Perez — upon taking over the Marlins, without even communicating with either man.
“I don’t have a sense, or feeling, like I want to sit on that stage to hear what [Jeter] has to say,” Dawson said.
Perez, while also critical of Jeter, equivocated.
Last September, Jeter told South Florida-based radio host Craig Mish that he had met with Dawson and Perez in an attempt to clear the air. Dawson confirmed that meeting took place. As for going to Cooperstown, Dawson said, “I’ll contemplate.”
That contemplation seemingly has led to Dawson joining his Hall of Fame fraternity brothers.
Raines, who noted he has been friendly with Dawson “since Derek was in diapers,” said he did not play a peacekeeper role between the two men despite knowing both of them well.
“It’s a great honor to be in the Hall of Fame,” Raines said, “and to have two Hall of Fame players be in a situation like that to where they can’t be in the same place at the same time, I’m hoping that’ll never happen.”