忘れられた伝説：アンドリュー・ジョーンズ | 434 本塁打 • ゴールドグラブ賞 10 回 • 史上第 9 位のセンター！
before we dive in don’t miss your chance to win a psa 10 luis robert rookie card that’s right stay tuned answer the trivia question at the end and you could walk away with a 2018 bowman chrome prospects number 21 graded gem mint 10 let’s get into it long before the lights of yankee stadium there was a dusty baseball field in wilmistad that’s where andrew’s story begins born april 23rd 1977 in kurissowl a dutch caribbean island with a population smaller than most us suburbs andrew grew up surrounded by music family and baseball his father a mechanic and semi-pro player noticed his son’s unique balance and coordination before andrew could even read a box score by 11 jones was hitting bombs off grown men by 15 he was starring for the national team facing older stronger competition and holding his own it wasn’t just raw talent it was instinct andrew signed with atlanta at 16 for a $46,000 signing bonus and moved to the us speaking almost no english living in a world he barely understood but dominating on the diamond anyway fast forward to october 20th 1996 game one of the world series the braves versus the yankees the bronx is rocking the spotlight is unforgiving and in walks andrew jones just 19 years old facing andy pettit on baseball’s biggest stage first at bat gone hold down the left field line history made but he wasn’t done two innings later another bomb three-run shot off of brian boowinger he became the youngest player in history to homer in a world series game incredibly jones became the second player of any age to homer in his first two world series at younger than mickey manol younger than bryce harper ever was in the postseason imagine being a 19-year-old kid and hitting two home runs in yankee stadium in your first world series game against the yankees bobby cox later said it wasn’t a fluke he was ready for that moment we all knew it the world had just witnessed the arrival of a star or so he thought some players sprint toward greatness andrew glided while the home runs grabbed headlines it was his glove that made him legendary andrew jones wasn’t just a good center fielder he may have been the greatest to ever patrol the position from 1998 to 2007 he won 10 consecutive gold gloves a feat matched by only two other outfielders ken griffy jr and willie mays former teammate tom glavin once said “half the time i’d start walking off the mound before he even caught the ball i just knew he had it.” his first step was faster than most players full sprint stackcast didn’t exist in the ’90s but if it had andrew’s routes and range would have broken the internet he consistently covered more ground than any other outfielder often positioning himself shallow some even said absurdly shallow because he knew he could make up the distance he finished his career with 24.4 defensive war first all time for an outfielder 5.6 more than roberto clemente at second think about that jones did things with a glove that were literally historic yet somehow we rarely say his name when we talk about all-time great defenders why by the early 2000s andrew jones was no longer just a defensive phenom he was becoming one of the game’s elite power hitters from 2000 to 2006 he averaged 35 home runs and 104 rbi’s per season but one year stood above the rest 2005 the braves needed power chipper jones was hurt the offense lacked spark and then andrew erupted he launched 51 home runs led all of major league baseball and drove in 128 runs he slugged 575 made the all-star team and won the silver slugger this wasn’t just a good year it was one of the most dominant offensive seasons by a center fielder ever only a few center fielders in history mickey man kang griffy jr and willie mays had ever reached the 50 homer mark andrew did it while still playing elite defense he finished second in the nl mvp vote narrowly edged out by albert pooh holes some still say he should have won but then the curtain began to fall in 2006 his average dropped in 2007 it cratered to 222 with just 26 home runs with striking out 138 times he looked heavier his swing got longer and his first step in center a tick slower and just like that the braves the team he had given his entire youth to let him walk in free agency he was only 30 new team new city new expectations the los angeles dodgers signed andrew jones to a 2-year $36 million deal confident they were getting a proven star what they got was a nightmare injuries piled up his swing once quick and punishing looked lost in 2008 he batted just 158 hit three home runs in 75 games and was booed mercilessly in his own stadium the dodgers cut him loose after one season andrew didn’t quit though he signed a minor league deal with the texas rangers and in a moment that felt like old times on july 8th 2009 he crushed three homers in one game brief flashes of the old magic then a stop in chicago with the white socks in 2010 19 home runs in a platoon roll he hit his 400th career home run on july 11th then two part-time years with the yankees decent pop especially in 2011 when he posted an 851 ops against lefties but he was no longer a center fielder he was a role player a name on the back of a jersey who used to be a star after 17 years in major league baseball andrew packed his bags for japan in 2013 he signed with the rakutin golden eagles he wasn’t chasing money he was chasing closure in japan andrew rediscovered his joy he hit 50 home runs over two seasons and helped lead racin to a japan series title their first ever it was a quiet final chapter far from the headlines of atlanta and new york one incident might contribute to why he isn’t in the hall on christmas day 2012 just before his japan stint andrew was arrested in georgia for domestic battery according to police reports his wife claimed he physically dragged her and threatened her during an argument the charges were dropped but the story didn’t disappear it barely made waves in baseball media but when hall of fame voting comes around character matters fair or not it’s part of the narrative andrew never publicly addressed it in detail and maybe that silence is part of what’s kept him in the shadows not just from the hall but from the full embrace of baseball history every january ballots are cast legends are called and some are left behind andrew jones with his 434 home runs 1,289 rbi’s and 10 gold gloves should have walked into coopertown but in his first year on the hall of fame ballot in 2018 he got just 7.3% of the vote that’s barely above the minimum to stay on the ballot at all the voters’s message was clear great defender short prime weak finish they said he faded too fast they said five bad years can erase 10 spectacular ones but here’s the twist jones’s career war was 62.7 higher than vladimir guerrero higher than jim rice harold baines and plenty of players already enshrined in the hall he’s just one of four center fielders in mlb history with 400 plus homers 10 plus gold gloves and a war over 60 the other three mickey manel willie mays ken griffy jr you know what all of them have in common they’re in coopertown so why not andrew maybe it’s because he wasn’t a media darling maybe it’s the arrest or maybe baseball forgot how incredible he truly was the writers might hesitate but the players they know chipper jones a hall of famer himself once said “i played next to andrew for 11 years and in all that time i never saw someone track a ball like he could it was supernatural.” greg maddox who never gave out praise easily put it bluntly if it was in the air andrew had it tom glavin john smoltz bobby cox they all echoed the same thing he made their lives easier and for young players from kurissau andrew jones wasn’t just a star he was the symbol of possibility players like aussie alb’s and juriken proofar have openly said that without andrew they might not have believed the dream was real in kurissau there are murals of him streets named for him he’s not just remembered he’s revered at baseball spark we don’t just look at numbers we look at impact we don’t forget what our eyes saw even if the stats get buried in time that’s why we ranked andrew jones as the number nine greatest center fielder of all time not just because of the homers not just because of the gloves but because for 10 straight years andrew jones made center field look like magic because he made the impossible plays seem ordinary because he showed kids from a tiny caribbean island that baseball had room for them too and yeah maybe the ending wasn’t perfect but that doesn’t erase the brilliance of the beginning so let us ask you what do you remember about andrew jones the 19-year-old who stunned yankee stadium the defensive ghost who hunted down fly balls like no one else or the name the hall of fame keeps overlooking who’s number eight on our all-time center fielder list think you know then here’s your shot to win big which hall of fame center fielder racked up more doubles than anyone in mlb history played part of his career without even wearing a glove and was known as the gray eagle drop your answer in the comments if you guess correctly like share and subscribe you’ll be entered to win a 2018 bowman prospects chrome luis robert number 21 psa gem mint 10 think you’ve got it hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss next week’s reveal and we’ll catch you in the next inning
Was Andruw Jones the most underrated center fielder in baseball history?
In this Baseball Spark episode, we dive deep into the incredible journey of Andruw Jones — from hitting home runs in the World Series at age 19 to winning 10 straight Gold Gloves and launching 434 career bombs. He’s our pick for #9 on the all-time greatest center fielders list, and after this, you might agree he deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
🔥 Plus — we’re giving away a PSA 10 2018 Bowman Chrome Luis Robert rookie card!
To enter:
✅ Subscribe to Baseball Spark
✅ Like this video
✅ Comment your guess to this trivia:
Which Hall of Fame CF was called “The Grey Eagle” and hit more doubles than anyone in MLB history?
Don’t miss your chance to win — and don’t miss why Andruw Jones might be the most disrespected star of his era.
📺 Watch now and catch the legends you forgot.
Timestamps:
0:00 Giveaway Details
0:30 The Rise of Andruw Jones
2:15 The 1996 World Series Moment
4:00 Defensive Greatness
6:20 51 HR Season
8:45 The Downfall
10:10 The Hall of Fame Debate
12:30 Legacy & What’s Next
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