After spending a decade up in Canada playing for the Montreal Expos, Andre Dawson felt that it was time for a change of pace.

“I was faced with the task of free agency for the first time [in 1987]. It seemed like my playing time was up in Montreal,” Dawson said on the Cubs Weekly Podcast. “I was actually being offered a 3-year contract but with a cut in pay. As a free agent, to me, that’s really not being offered a fair market value. I could sense the writing on the wall. It was time for me to move on. The AstroTurf was playing havoc with my knees. I just needed a new scenery.”

At that time, teams weren’t negotiating with free agents, limiting the amount of contract conversations players could have with other teams. That led to Dawson and his agent coming up with a plan: go to a team you want to play for and offer them a blank contract. One of the teams on Dawson’s radar was the Chicago Cubs.

“The first team that came to mind was the Cubs obviously because it was still the National League, a natural playing surface, daytime baseball and a huge national following,” Dawson said. “I had Atlanta as my other choice because it was close to my home in Florida, natural playing surface and still in the National League. The Cubs was top priority, and we decided, because spring training had already started, to take a trip out to Arizona, hopefully at some point meet with [general manager] Dallas Green, and just present him with the proposal.”

Dawson – believing in himself, his talent and abilities – and his agent flew out unannounced to Arizona for spring training to give Green the proposal and see what would happen.

“He had never really seen anything like it, didn’t know what to make of it,” Dawson said. “His first response was that he had to let some of the younger players be given a look, an opportunity to make the ball club, and I understood that. I also threw out the fact that I think I can come and help this ball club. I know you’re a few years removed from postseason play, and we left it at that.

“I told him, ‘Mr. Green, I’m going to go to West Palm Beach and do the same thing tomorrow with the Atlanta Braves.’ He said, ‘Well, hopefully we can respond to you in the next day or two.'”

[WATCH: Full podcast with Hall of Famer Andre Dawson]

Just 24 hours later as Dawson is about to start his drive to West Palm Beach, he got a call from Dallas Green.

“He said, ‘Mr. Dawson, we’ve evaluated your proposal and the best offer that we can make you is $500,000.’ That was $500,000 less than what Montreal was offering me,” Dawson said. “I knew that I needed the change of scenery. I didn’t, at that point, want to go back to Montreal. I was always hoping that whatever the amount that would be written in wouldn’t be too embarrassing, but at that point for me, it got to be not a monetary issue.

“I accepted the proposal and he kind of hesitated. He didn’t say anything for about 15 seconds. I said, ‘Hello?’ I thought I lost the call, and he said, ‘I’m here. Can I get back to you in about an hour?’ At that point, I knew what he had to do because he really wasn’t supposed to make an offer. He had to clear it with the commissioner moving forward. He called me back sure enough about 45 minutes later and said, ‘Andre, welcome aboard. We’re glad to have you and take your time. I know you were just here.’ I told him, ‘No, I can be on a flight and be back out tomorrow.'”

That same year that Dawson signed with the Cubs ended up being the year he won the NL MVP award. That whole process of a blank contract will probably never be seen again in Major League Baseball, but it did teach “The Hawk” a lot about himself.

“It showed me a lot about myself in the fact of it wasn’t just about money. It was about pride and principle,” Dawson said. “I had never really doubted my ability. I felt that I had a few better years ahead of me which fortunately happened to be that particular year in winning the MVP award. I just knew what my talent and my ability was, and I still wanted to go out and display it on a stage where it would really be appreciated.”

Listen to the full Andre Dawson interview on the Cubs Weekly Podcast.