It was very puzzling just how long it took Atlanta Braves legend Andruw Jones' Hall of Fame campaign to start gaining real momentum. While he did have to deal with some loaded ballots early on, but Jones somehow got only 7.3% of the vote in his first year of eligibility back in 2018 despite being (probably) the best defensive centerfielder of all-time while having a peak that stands with anyone and counting stats that are pretty convincing even with how his career ended.
Thankfully, the votes have trended in Jones' direction lately. After coming just short in 2025, all signs from this current round of voting where that Jones had a real shot of getting in once you looked at how new voters were voting and the results of the public ballots. However, the voting wasn't going SO good that getting into Cooperstown was a lock. The private balloters were going to have their say and historically, they have not been a big Andruw voting demographic.
Well, the results are in and on Tuesday night, official word came down that Andruw Jones is finally a Hall of Famer. Even better, he got in with some room to spare as Jones ended up with 78.4% of the vote.
Welcome to Cooperstown, @andruwjones25! pic.twitter.com/HKAvMfNOoC
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) January 20, 2026
Andruw Jones is finally in the Hall of Fame after close call on his ninth year on the ballot
We always knew that the vote was going to be close. Again, those that don't announce their ballots (which is a significant minority these days) were very iffy on Jones in previous votes. While trending in the 82-83% range in the lead up to the vote was a good sign, that was just close enough to the 75% threshold to make things more interesting that they probably should have been.
Just like that, Jones now supplants Fred McGriff as the most recent inductee into Cooperstown. While the induction ceremony won't be the same sea of Braves fans as it was when Bobby Cox, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine were inducted, you can probably expect a substantial contingent of Atlanta faithful that watched Andruw growing up make the trip to upstate New York.