So, Peter, we're here today talk about Andre Dawson, who is a Hall of Fame,

Major League Baseball player. He played for 21 years from the mid-70s to the 90s, most notably

with the Expos and Cubs. Why are you writing about him now?

Growing up, I was a fan of Andre Dawson's.

I respected him, but I was not a super fan, primarily because I was a bitter young Mets fan,

and he played for the Expos and the Cubs and did his share of damage and destroying the Mets.

Peter Keating is a senior writer for ESPN.

I don't know if you have anyone like this in your life, but my dad sends me news clippings.

Still, he's 85 years old.

I got a blurb he sent me from AARP, the magazine.

And they had done a page, just kind of where are they now, what's going on with anybody interesting who's a senior.

And it mentioned that Andre Dawson was running a funeral home.

This was long before the pandemic.

And then after coronavirus struck, I was trying to think up story ideas.

And I remembered that.

And I was thinking to myself, like, you know, good Lord, if it was interesting then that this guy could have done anything he wanted to do in his life and decided to run a funeral home, it's probably gotten a lot more intense since then.

After his 20-year baseball career ended, Andre Dawson didn't set out to own and operate his own funeral home.

It probably wasn't even on the list of things he might do in retirement.

So how did this introverted Hall of Famer end up shepherding his community through grief?

Today, a look inside Dawson's unusual journey

and what it's like to bury your loved ones and mourn in the age of coronavirus.

I'm Mina Kimes. It's Thursday, June 4th.

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