At the induction ceremony every summer in Cooperstown, Hall of Famers fill the stage to welcome the newest members of baseball's most exclusive club. Next July, when Yankees great Derek Jeter is inducted, that group seems unlikely to include Andre Dawson and Tony Perez; Jeter had the two fired from their jobs as special assistants when his ownership group took over the Miami Marlins in 2017. Dawson, an outfielder who was inducted in 2010, told Bleacher Report that he's unlikely to go: "I don't have a sense or feeling like I want to sit on that stage to hear what [Jeter] has to say." Perez, a first baseman who entered the Hall of Fame in 2000, said he's made his decision but doesn't want to announce it yet. If he skips the ceremony, Perez said, it will be because of Jeter's presence. "It wasn't nice, what happened at the end," he said.
The two complain that Jeter never talked to them directly; he had the Marlins president, who'd already been fired, tell them they were out. When the firings proved unpopular with Marlins fans, they were offered their jobs back at lower pay, cut from $85,000 to $25,000. Dawson and Perez were told they could not wear Marlins uniforms during spring training and would have to stay out of the team's clubhouse. Jeter confirmed at the time that they were among the employees offered reduced roles at reduced pay, per USA Today. "For me it was more than insult personally the way everything was handled," Dawson said, adding, "I just felt disrespected." Dawson was hired soon after by the Chicago Cubs, but Perez doesn't have a baseball job anymore. Other Hall of Famers could give Jeter the cold shoulder over the issue, though another former Yankees star, Goose Gossage, said, "I don't get into that stuff." Pete Rose was critical of Jeter, saying that as a baseball boss, "He's a great shortstop." (More Derek Jeter stories.)
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