Unfortunately, that's what seals it for me with regards to Dawson. If you're tied to 'OPS+' as your underlying stat, then yes, it will probably seal the deal... However, 300+ stolen bases, 8 GG, and 157 career OF assists have NOTHING to do with his OPS+.... Dawson played the first half of his career BEFORE most of those other guys you compare him to (ARod, Bonds, Griffey, etc) even broke into the majors, and also BEFORE the 'Year of the Lively Ball' in 1987 when the offensive boom began... This is coincidentally the same year that Dawson won the MVP on a last place team and won the HR crown... Nobody takes note that he also finished SECOND in MVP voting twice BEFORE that. Dawson did have a defined 'peak' from 1979-1983 before injuries hampered him for 3 seasons before moving to the North Side. Too bad nobody cites stats from THAT era because, well, nobody was putting up big numbers. Since Dawson played so long into the 'Offensive Era', people like to compare him to players in that era, when in fact, by the time Griffey and ARod came along, and guys were hitting 40 and 50 with regularity, Dawson was in his late 30's and hobbled with bad knees... Of course Dawson and Rice are favorable in numbers, they played MORE in the same era. You cannot name too many BETTER OFers from 1976-1987 than Dawson, Rice, Raines, Murphy, etc... You would have to look at guys like Guerrero, Winfield, Parker, Henderson and the guys that Dawson played with in HIS prime... ops+ is just a lazy way to measure how much better he was than his era. the answer is "not much"