No Crime in Not Being Willie Mays: Andruw Jones and the Hall of Fame

Andruw Jones is, without question, the best centerfielder that I ever saw… and, as a diehard Phillies fan growing up, I hated him for it. Funny enough, just the other day Andruw commented, apologizing, on a post of him robbing a two-out, bases loaded extra-base hit by Marlon Anderson. As much as I couldn’t stand seeing Andruw square up against the Phillies during my childhood, I realize now, that, in part, is what makes him a Hall of Famer… you didn’t want to play this guy.

The Next Willie Mays

Andruw Jones entered the 1996 postseason at just 19 years old, largely as a defensive replacement – not entering a game before the eighth inning in five of his first six games and as a sub in six of his first seven. But he exited the World Series as baseball’s next Willie Mays – batting .400/.500/.750, becoming the youngest player in history, by over two years, to have a multi-homer postseason game.

Stats aside: the only players who have since come anywhere close to Jones’s record are Carlos Correa and Fernando Tatis Jr., but Andruw bests them by about a year-and-a-half and over two years respectively.

Jones wasn’t feeling the pressure though, “man, it wasn’t really like that for me. I didn’t feel pressure, it was nice to be compared to one of the all-time greats at just 19 years old – I knew of Mays growing up, and I finally got to meet him during my third season. If I felt any pressure at all, it was to be playing on the same field with Ken Griffey Jr. – I idolized him growing up, that is who I wanted to be like.”

Jones, like Junior, was plagued by injuries later in his career, which led to him falling a bit shy of the 500 home run mark, while Mays and Griffey each eclipsed 600 homers. But other than that, when it comes to power, glove, and overall performance, Jones stacks up pretty nicely with both.

x                                  Runs Saved        Home Run Percentage        WAR/162
Willie Mays                    185.0                          5.28%                              8.42
Ken Griffey Jr.                   3.4                          5.57%                              5.08
Andruw Jones                234.7                        5.01%                              4.63

Prior to his injuries, Jones was one of the durable players in the game – from 1997 to 2007, he played in 1,730 of the Braves’ 1,781 games, as well as 61 of their 62 postseason games. In fact, no player in baseball had more games played during that stretch.

Andruw also became the first player ever to play at least 160 games in centerfield in three different seasons when he played in his third straight in 2001, at just 24 years old. And when combining his uncanny durability with his penchant for power, looking at players with the most seasons in history with at least 150 games played in centerfield and 25 home runs hit, a limited list emerges:

Willie Mays – 10
Andruw Jones – 10
No other player – 9
No other player – 8
No other player – 7
No other player – 6
No other player – 5

Adding Injury to Insult

I asked Andruw what it was like to go from someone who played virtually every game to someone who would quickly be labeled as injury prone.

“I don’t know, man. It was tough for me when I signed with Los Angeles from the start. Honestly, I was disappointed to leave the Braves – I was willing to consider a ‘hometown discount’ or even a qualifying offer, but they really didn’t do anything. Then I signed with LA and injuries just started popping up… I’m not making excuses, because I was the one who wasn’t producing, but I wasn’t quite as comfortable, I wasn’t used to sitting – when I was with Atlanta, damn, I missed like 2-3 days a year, nothing more than that, never 2-3 days in a row, let alone half a season. Then when I tore my meniscus, I wasn’t even sure I would make it back. Nothing like that had ever happened to me.”

I wondered if Jones may have performed better or been more durable in his later seasons had his playing time cut to maybe 140 games-per-season during that 11-year stretch where he averaged over 157 games-per-year.

“Can’t think about that, I wanted to be out there every day. I just loved playing. And I wouldn’t change it… if I had to change anything, I’d go back and play those games that I missed when I was in Atlanta – that is what I wanted to do, play all 162 of ’em.”

Andruw Jones on the Ballot… on the Ballot

Jones is one of the better players I have who fills out a ballot each year for my annual Ballplayer Ballot, so I – or we, if he makes his ballot public – get a peek as to who among his peers he thinks should go into the Hall of Fame alongside him. I was curious what he thought about some of the guys who have fallen off the ballot.

“Carlos Delgado – you’ve got to explain that one to me – he was ridiculous. He did so much damage – driving in runs, hitting homers, high average. But during his career, there were bigger names playing first base, and don’t get me wrong, I’d vote for McGwire too, but Delgado was never mentioned alongside PED guys – that should count for something, but he didn’t even get a chance on the ballot… and what about Fred McGriff?”

Jones continued, “Sammy Sosa is probably getting short changed as well – he was a unique player – drove in runs, hit a ton of homers, could steal bases, and he was even a 30-30 guy a couple times. I think there are probably one or two bad eggs in the media that spoil his legacy a bit. And I think the corked bat incident probably hurts him even more than the PED stuff, just because a lot of guys were doing PEDs. Atlanta always welcomes me back with open arms, and it hurts me to see the guy never even get invited back to Chicago, he was a hero to that city.”

Story aside: Jones and I also talked about him coming close to 30-30, but never quite getting there. On that, he said, “it was going to be tough for me, I had 150 stolen bases or so, and I think I could have had more, but that was Cox’s game. We were more of a first-to-third-type team unless you batted leadoff and had the green light. We didn’t get it too often, and when I stole, it was because I had a solid read on the opposing.”

“Alfonso Soriano is another one who comes to mind, he never got a look, and he played a premium position. Jimmy Edmonds was right there, Lofton, too. Not sure if these guys are Hall of Famers, but I think they deserved a closer look.”

Jones went on, “I also feel for guys who get stuck on the ballot just as much as the guys who get brushed off… I mean, why did it take Larry Walker ten years? If you are a Hall of Famer in year ten, then weren’t you in year one? I don’t get it… if anything, don’t your numbers look worse when guys like Mike Trout start popping up in the league? I just don’t get it, man.”

Before we moved on, I had to ask Jones about one player currently on the ballot, who I wrote my annual Hall of Fame article on last year – Scott Rolen.

“Rolen has my vote every year. He could be counted on, and he probably was the best third baseman in baseball for a number of seasons during his career – Chipper, one of the all-time greats, who was definitely the best third baseman in baseball for several years in his career might get a little extra-credit because he was a switch-hitter. But man, when it came to Rolen, all I could think is ‘you don’t want to hit the ball to that guy – if you do, you are out.'”

The Next Andruw Jones

Andruw’s son, and Vandy Boy, Druw is one of the top amateur prospects in the country. And I know how Andruw said that he felt no pressure being called the next Willie Mays, but thought – there has to be some pressure on Druw Jones… to be called the next Andruw Jones when Andruw Jones is your father.

“Druw has a lot of talent… just like everyone looked at me when I was 19 [years old] and said I’m going to be the next Willie Mays, and I didn’t feel pressure on that, I don’t want him to come up feeling any.”

“I definitely don’t want him to walk in my shadow, hell he is taller than me,” he said laughing. “He is a damn good defensive player in center, but he can play anywhere on the field with his talent.”

I figured Jones had to be coaching up his boy and giving him non-stop baseball advice, but Andruw quickly put a stop to that, “nope, only if he asks, only if he comes to me. He has great coaches, and I let them do their thing, I won’t intervene between player and coach.”

Where Andruw finds joy is not in coaching up his boy, rather simply watching him perform on the diamond.

“I just love watching him play, but I am not out there. He is the one on the field, so he has to execute, and again, if he comes to me, I am always there for him, but you can have the best coaching in the world and still fail to perform.”

Jones thought for a minute then took our conversation in a slightly different direction.

“On that, I think hitting coaches take too much blame when a guy doesn’t get the job done and get too much credit when their player does make things happen. The hitting coach is not in the box with you, you are still the one who has to hit.”

You Will Learn, by the Numbers, I Will Teach You

As much as I could not stand Andruw Jones as a kid, simply because he would beat up on my Phillies, I am honored to now call him a friend and make my best case for him as a Hall of Famer. My favorite thing about getting to know the man is that when we are talking baseball, one would never know that one of us hit 434 big league home runs and the other hit zero – he just loves the game, and he enjoys talking with someone, anyone, who appreciates it as much as he does… even some nerd who sits behind a computer crunching numbers.

So let’s crunch some numbers…

Seasons with at least 25 home runs and 25 fielding runs saved as a centerfielder:

Andruw Jones – 4
The other 22,563 players in history – 2

Complete list of centerfielders with at least 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and 20 outfield assists in a season:

1998 Andruw Jones
1954 Willie Mays

Andruw Jones is the only player in baseball with at least 300 home runs, 200 fielding runs saved, and 150 stolen bases. He had:

434 home runs
234.7 fielding runs saved
152 stolen bases

Complete list of players with at least 100 fielding runs saved and a 5.00 home run percentage:

Willie Mays – 185.0 | 5.28%
Mike Schmidt – 127.2 | 5.45%
Barry Bonds – 174.8 | 6.04%
Andruw Jones – 234.7 | 5.01%
Albert Pujols – 137.7 | 5.35%
Nolan Arenado – 136.0 | 5.16%

Players with at least 400 home runs and 100 assists from centerfield:

Mickey Mantle
Willie Mays
Ken Griffey Jr.
Andruw Jones
Carlos Beltran

There have been 22,564 different players in baseball history. Two have accumulated at least 300 home runs and 200 fielding runs:

Andruw Jones | CF:
434 home runs | 5.01 HR%
234.7 fielding runs | 17,078⅓ innings

Adrian Beltre | 3B:
477 home runs | 3.93 HR%
237.7 fielding runs | 23,855 innings

*Reduce the requirement from 200 fielding runs to 150, and only Scott Rolen, Barry Bonds, Cal Ripken Jr., Carl Yastrzemski, Al Kaline, and Willie Mays join the list.

Players with at least 250 home runs, 150 stolen bases, and 100 fielding runs:

Chase Utley
Andruw Jones
Barry Bonds
Mike Schmidt
Carl Yastrzemski
Willie Mays

Andruw Jones ranks 48th all-time in home runs (434) and 4th all-time in fielding runs saved (234.7). He ranks fifth all-time in home runs and first all-time in fielding runs saved among centerfielders.