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Andruw Jones calls it 'a great honor' to reach Hall of Fame after nearly falling off ballot

Story byCHARLES ODUMWed, January 21, 2026 at 2:33 AM UTC·3 min readATLANTA (AP) — As one of the most accomplished center fielders in history, Andruw Jones made a practice of catching line drives that would have reached the gap against any other outfielder. On Tuesday, Jones showed he could also make up ground in Hall of Fame balloting. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJones, who won 10 Gold Gloves with the Atlanta Braves, was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame Tuesday alongside another center fielder, Carlos Beltrán. Jones was in the Dominican Republic, where he was playing in a golf tournament, when he saw the announcement. He made it in his ninth of 10 possible years of eligibility and was included on 78.4% of ballots to beat the 75% threshold. Jones was included on only 7.3% of ballots in his first year.“It was very close for me to be off the ballot,” Jones said.

Andruw Jones calls it 'a great honor' to reach Hall of Fame after nearly falling off ballot

Credit: Yahoo

Key Highlights

  • “To go all the way from 7% and be in the Hall of Fame is a great honor.”Jones thanked the Braves “for giving me the chance to play the game that I love” and his longtime manager Bobby Cox, “who believed in me.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJones ranked second in the majors when he hit 51 homers in 2005, finishing second in the NL MVP voting.
  • He also became the youngest player to hit a home run in a World Series before memorably going deep again in his next at-bat. Jones was 19 years, 5 months old in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium when he beat Mickey Mantle’s mark for the youngest player with a Series homer by 18 months.
  • Jones homered against Andy Pettitte in the second inning and Brian Boehringer in the third inning of a 12-1 rout.
  • He became only the second player to homer in his first two Series at-bats, following Oakland's Gene Tenace in 1972. Jones finished with 434 homers but was known first for his defense.
  • His Gold Gloves came in a stretch of 10 consecutive seasons beginning in 1998.
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Sources

  1. Andruw Jones calls it 'a great honor' to reach Hall of Fame after nearly falling off ballot

This quick summary is automatically generated using AI based on reports from multiple news sources. The content has not been reviewed or verified by humans. For complete details, accuracy, and context, please refer to the original published articles.

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