ATLANTA -- To fully appreciate Andruw Jones' journey to baseball immortality, it’s good to revisit his magical 1996 season. That year will always be remembered as the one when he was a baby-faced 19-year-old who homered in his first two World Series at-bats.
What might not be known is how unexpected his call to the Majors was. Jones was named Baseball America’s 1995 Minor League Player of the Year. But the defending World Series champion Braves didn’t invite the teenage phenom to big league camp the following spring.
“All I wanted was to go to big league camp, so that I could get my own bats,” Jones said. “I didn’t care about anything else. That kind of motivated me.”
Thirty years later, Jones is humbly preparing to become the latest Braves great to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. When he delivers his induction speech on July 26 in Cooperstown, he’ll reminisce about his 10 Gold Glove Awards, his five All-Star selections and the lessons he learned throughout that first big league season.
Jones began the 1996 season with High-A Durham, and was actually bothered when he learned he was being promoted to a less-talented Double-A team. Miffed he wouldn’t be able to compete for the South Atlantic League championship, he moved to Double-A, where he thrived, and then went to Triple-A for 12 games, seven of which were spent getting used to right field.
“I said, 'I’m not a right fielder,'” Jones remembered. “[My manager Bill Dancy] said, ‘Bobby Cox wants you to play right field.’”
What Jones didn’t know was the Braves wanted him in the Majors. But to get him there, they first had to introduce him to a position other than center field, which was being manned by Marquis Grissom at the time. Jones nailed the audition and was sent to Philadelphia to make his MLB debut on Aug. 15, 1996.
“I walked in the clubhouse in Philadelphia wearing shorts and everybody was like, 'Who is this kid?’” Jones said. “I kind of rubbed everybody the wrong way a little bit. But everybody knew what kind of player I was. They just wanted to make sure I knew the rules and what Cox expected from his players.”
Two months later, under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium, Jones would homer in his first two at-bats in the Fall Classic. This early success propelled him toward a 17-season big league career that included stints with the Braves, Dodgers, White Sox, Rangers and Yankees. Jones remains the only teenager to homer in the World Series.
After thriving throughout his 20s, Jones’ production slipped dramatically during his 30s. This decline led to not being elected to the Hall of Fame his first eight years on the ballot. He received 7.3% of the votes his first year of eligibility and 7.5% his second. A player is dropped from the ballot if he receives less than 5%.
But as the past few years passed, voters recognized the peak production Jones constructed during his first decade in the Majors.
Jones, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki are the only outfielders to win 10 Gold Glove Awards. Each are immortalized in Cooperstown.
While winning 10 consecutive Gold Gloves with Atlanta from 1998-2007, Jones ranked third among all MLB players with a 57.6 bWAR, behind only Alex Rodriguez (80) and Barry Bonds (71). Chipper Jones, Todd Helton and Albert Pujols each produced a 54.9 mark during this decade-long stretch.
Jones had a 24.2 defensive WAR from 1998-2007. The next-closest players were Hall of Famers Scott Rolen (15.1) and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez (13.5).
Though he fell short of the 500-homer mark, ending his career with 434, Jones tallied seven 30-homer seasons, highlighted by his career-best 51 homers in 2005.
"He established himself as one of the best players in the game,” Chipper Jones said. “I have no problem saying he’s the best center fielder I’ve ever seen.”
Many have said Andruw Jones was the greatest defensive center fielder of all time. But the strongest compliment came from Mays, who was widely considered to be the best outfielder the game has seen before Jones arrived on the scene.
Terry Pendleton, the 1991 NL MVP and a longtime Braves coach, tells the story best.
“Mays and I are talking about different things that have happened with swings and players and all this stuff,” Pendleton said. “And Willie turns to Andruw Jones and says, ‘Hey kid, listen, I want to tell you something.’ We all looked because Willie Mays was talking. All conversations ended there because we’re listening and learning. And he turns to Andruw and says, ‘Listen, you’re the best center fielder I’ve ever seen play this game.’”
Greatness recognizes greatness, and with this year’s HOF induction, the greats will gladly welcome another to the exclusive club.