Andruw Jones on MLB Speedway Classic and the biggest players at the All-Star Game | BREAKFAST BALL
all right he’s one of the greatest center fielders in baseball history fivetime All-Star 10 time Gold Glove winner here in conjunction with Speedway Classic Andrew Jones andrew thank you for taking a few minutes to join us here on Breakfast Ball today uh the uh the Major League Speedway Classic coming to Fox just in about a month or so how cool is it to bring baseball to Bristol Motor Speedway
uh first of all thank you for having me guys um this is going to be awesome um you know first time MLB is doing something like this um you know we’ve been talking about it for a long time obviously the Brace host NASCAR NASCAR night a bunch of times at at the stadiums um you know way back then when I play uh at Turnerfield so um it’s going to be interesting to have a a a game on a on a on a speedway what’s the craziest place you ever played baseball that’s going to be a little different well if you if you call where I’m coming from the island is always crazy out there you know we we don’t have grass on the field we play all on dirts and rocks and you know obviously it’s windy all the time so um you know that’s the only crazy place I ever play baseball on
well well speaking of big baseball events the All-Star game is coming to Atlanta that’ll be Freddy Freeman’s return to Atlanta which will be a nice subplot for the game what does it mean to Atlanta what are you expecting from the vibe at that All-Star game in your former uh town
oh I mean it’s going to be awesome i’m going to be part of it um it’s going to be a lot of facilities great stuff um MLB is hosting a lot of stuff around the Battery area um all around Atlanta you know hosting like camps for for youth and and a bunch of other stuff um uh it’s going to be nice and it’s going to be very very good for for the city um obviously we had chance to have it uh previous years um but it got moved away but um you know people was excited about their spring
talking to Andrew Jones as we get ready for another great uh moment in baseball history andrew you’re an interesting guy career-wise uh because it’s arguably the best defensive outfielder of your generation and I think what 10 Gold Gloves playing uh center field etc for mostly the Atlanta Braves and you got really close last year to getting into the Hall of Fame and I’m wondering obviously it’s important to get in why wouldn’t you want to get in but how much time and emotion do you spend on whether or not the voters give you the extra couple votes you need to become a Hall of Famer uh I mean I can’t control those things to be honest with you um if it happen it’s going to be a great honor um obviously that’s that’s the top off top award that you can ever get in in in Major League Baseball beside winning award series um but um you know my teammates knew knew what I did um when I put the uniform on and when I got on the field and that’s all that mattered i went out there trying to trying to win win games to help my team win games um and trying to play elite defense that I can
now I want to talk to you about a story that John Smoltz told me john Smoltz told me that when you were playing for the Atlanta Braves you had a teammate named Willie Harris and Willie Harris was struggling at one particular point of a season and as the story goes you made a bit of a wager with Willie Harris before I tell the story I’m wondering if you can confirm the story and tell these guys in America exactly what that story was go ahead
well uh Willie Harris is a funny guy i mean you know he’s from Georgia always always mess with him but um you know he’s has whole family always in Atlanta and and um coming to support him but he was struggling a little bit and so we were in the in in the in the equipment room and we saw this this um giveaway bat and I told him I said hey if you get if you go six for six with this G game b this uh giveaway bat I give you a diamond watch he go bat so he go out there the first day he go he go four for four and then the next day he go six for six and I was like oh crap I need to get go by so the next day I call a jury i say uh bring me this watch for this kid and you know that was the history from the whole thing and then he just roll with it
and just to finish the story just to fill in a couple of the gaps there he used the bat they gave away to the fans
all right it was it was like a ceremonial everyone first 10,000 fans and goes six for six and he bought him a Rolex
nice come up for Willie willie Harris i I hope he still have it i I I text message all the time with him and Chuck on him um I always ask him and say “You still have that watch?” He was like “Yes I That is awesome.” Hey Andrew uh a lot of changes in baseball with the pitch clock the bigger bags and all that stuff is there a guy though that you watch right now that you uh that you follow that you love uh somebody that plays great defense who is your guy that uh that you watch in Major League Baseball right now and and just have admiration for
i’ll be honest with you I’m still I’m always involved i’m always watching games i love this game this is all I know since I was 6 years old always I want to do this and um you know I still keep up with every team obviously I still work for the Braves um but um you know I love I love the game i love the way the game is going it’s growing um we’re going to have you know we having a lot of superstars now back then you know you you have who who we had but now we have a lot of superstars in the game you know guys like Akuna guys like um showing Judge you know name it you know Mike Trout is still in there as as long as he he’s he’s continuing to play so it’s a lot of it’s a lot of young guys and a lot of guys that that continue to be consistent you know guys that turn into allstar and and and be superstars guys that that can turn turn things around quicker than others um have like you know not a week of struggling maybe you know four days of struggle and and come back and do and be the same guy that they are
andrew I’m from Chicago we just showed a uh Pete Crow Armstrong highlight there my guy Craig Councel the manager of the Cubs who played basically your entire era uh when when you were playing he said that PCA is playing center field defense as well as anyone he’s ever seen play the position do you agree with counsel about my guy PCA
he he’s doing it right now he’s doing it he’s he’s being very consistent he’s running balls down um you know I saw him first win the series against um the Dodgers in in um in Japan i was there for that series and um you know I didn’t I did not like the team then I I was was like you know they picked this team to win win the division and I did not like the way they started and obviously it’s not the way you started this is how you finish um but they turn it around and and they they playing great baseball and um you know they they um they move in the right direction
let’s go back in time shall we just for a moment um I’m a New Yorker by the way Andrew 1996 the Atlanta Braves come to the Bronx they blow the Yankees out in game one they blow the Yankees out in game two they outscore the Yankees in the first two games of the World Series by a combined score of 16-1 they go back to Atlanta yanks steal game three they’re down two games to one the Atlanta Braves in game four have a 6 nothing lead and the coronation for Bobby Cox is about to begin and then somehow someway the little engine that could the New York Yankees
the little engine oh my gosh walk me through the dugout at 6 nothing verse 66 in the fourth as you’re losing control of the World Series andy Jones you you’re making it very interesting right now i really don’t want to talk about it uh no it was it it was tough i mean obviously like you just say we we were on a hot streak we we just beat Cardinals you know two games in a row we score over 10 runs um so we were we were we were swinging the back very well um going to New York obviously is a it’s a big stadium um you know everybody know about Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and and the history and all stuff like that so um you know we just got on the roll and kept going but um you know that game that game three and six you know up by six round was tough um you know obviously we made a couple mistakes um you don’t make mistakes with great team like the Yankees and um they took advantage of it so um after that everything just got on a on a on a on a roll so everything started going the other way and and the and the Yankees end up pulling it up but um you know it was it was a very interesting series i mean you know I I go back sometimes you know you you search social media and they show stuff like that on it and you’re like “Wow that was that was a point that everything changed.” So um it was awesome i mean we didn’t meant to win it i mean it would have been great if we won it because then we would have been back to back year you know 95
crazy about that people forget that was John Wetland as the closer for the Yankees that’s pre- Mariano
and John Wetland was the World Series MVP uh in 96 hey let’s let’s just reminisce about the good things though you were the youngest player ever to hit a homer in the World Series tell us about that ario look at you hey they didn’t know they didn’t know who I was though they I mean they heard about me but they didn’t know who I was um you know Andy Pett you know he just trying not to walk everybody he was already struggling a little bit and he just left a fast ball right down the middle and you know I like fast ball i’m I’m jumping on fast ball so he just laughed and then he left me a slider 3-2 pitch over the middle and you know it was just I it I was I I I don’t know be honest with you i was just going out there and have fun it’s the World Series everybody’s watching you and you know you just got to show up
you could make an argument your home run against the Cardinals in the NLCS in game seven even though it was a route was maybe your biggest and farthest home run of your career that was a bomb you hit in that game to help you guys advance uh to the World Series look the Speedway Classic’s coming up it’s another great celebration of America’s pastime which is baseball it’s great that Major League Baseball Rob Manford and the gang come up with these creative events uh you’ll have 100 plus thousand people at a baseball game which is going to be awesome and then as Danny mentioned the All-Star game and uh in your favorite town of course Atlanta uh finally after a number of years where they lost the All-Star game years a few years ago will be a great celebration of the sport down in Atlanta and I know you were happy last night cuz I saw Kurissowl score off a corner kick against Honduras when the Honduran goalie didn’t know what to do i mean you know we end Yeah I think I think we lost two to one um but you know obviously the you know the soccer soccer always been big in Curus but now it’s getting recognition and we started playing national teams so um you know we just trying to continue to make it make it out of the islands um you know obviously we have a lot of major league baseball players that made it out of out of cur um so now we’re just trying to make it make it in in soccer um you know it’s just it’s just trying to grow the island and and and get the island some recognition
all right hey Andrew Jones thank you so much for making us a part of your day man we appreciate you continued success in all that you do thank you for being a part
uh thank you for having me guys
and by the way we have we have a softball team that’s playing a couple games this summer if you feel like swinging the lumber for us we can fly up here you
Well like we’ll even let your bat lead off and play center if you want
i I I will lead off but I’m not going to play center i’m not going to run no more uh my doctor gave me a prescription that I should not supposed to run no more thanks man
thanks Andrew appreciate you oh thank you Andrew
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Andruw Jones joins Craig Carton, Danny Parkins, and Mark Schlereth to preview the MLB Speedway classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, and the MLB All-Star Game.
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Andrew Jones on MLB Speedway Classic and the biggest players at the All-Star Game | BREAKFAST BALL
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