Dawson sets record with five intentional walks
On May 22, 1990, the Cincinnati Reds issued Dawson five intentional walks in one game to set a new big league standard. The five bases on balls came in a game that lasted 16 innings, and Dawson still managed to 1-for-3 at the plate in his three official at-bats.
Dawson would finish the season with a big league-best 21 intentional walks to go along with a .310 batting average, 27 home runs and 100 RBI. Coming off surgery on his right knee following the 1989 campaign, Dawson proved he had not reached the end of the line.
“(Others) don’t know the anguish of rehabbing a knee,” Dawson said. “They don’t know how hard it is, how frustrating it is to be pitched around all the time. They don’t know what makes you tick.”
When he retired following the 1996 season, Dawson had totaled 438 home runs, 1,591 RBI and 143 intentional walks.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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