For Atlanta Braves icon Andruw Jones, one honor has remained elusive. The Braves finally did what they should have done a long time ago and retired Andruw's number last year, but recognition from Hall of Fame voters has thus far eluded him.
A majority of voters agree that Andruw is worthy of induction into Cooperstown. Last year, he got 58.1 % of the vote and he has been tracking higher than that this year throughout the voting process. Andruw's Hall of Fame case isn't a slam dunk, but you will struggle to find anyone that thinks that more than a couple center fielders in the history of baseball could be considered better than Andruw when he was at the height of his powers.
Well, the votes are in and for his seventh year on the ballot, Andruw fell short of induction into Cooperstown yet again.
Andruw Jones voting results: Could Braves legend still make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
The good news for Andruw is that he has steadily made gains every year he is on the ballot. He barely got the 5% of votes he needed to remain on the ballot his first couple years of eligibility, but Andruw has gone from getting 19.4% of votes in 2020 to being tantalizingly close to induction this year. If those trends hold, Andruw has a very reasonable shot at getting in over the next couple of years.
Results: pic.twitter.com/QJ8hIstrSk
— Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs) January 23, 2024
The biggest problem he faces is that those last few votes are often the most difficult to get. Andruw is a known quantity to Hall of Fame voters at the point, and many already have their minds made up about him. Complicating matters is that the minority of voters that keep their votes private have liked him significantly less than those that make their votes public. For Andruw to get in, he is going to have to appeal to new BBWAA voters over the next couple of years, try to change a few minds among existing voters, and hope that some of those that haven't voted for him get purged from the voter rolls.
We have seen this pulled off very recently. Tim Raines took far too long to get inducted before a wide-reaching campaign to get him in finally bore fruit. It took Scott Rolen six tries to get in before he was inducted last year, and Larry Walker barely got in on his 10th and final appearance on the ballot. There is still hope, but Andruw does face an uphill climb.
From the stunning drop-off he had at the end of his career to his domestic violence charge to the whispered-about allegations of steroid use that all players from his era have to deal with, Andruw's detractors have plenty of ammunition to try and shoot down attempts to argue for his induction into the Hall. Those that feel like he should get in are going to have to do a better, more thorough job of arguing that his career compares with the best to ever play the game at his position. The sooner that happens, the better, because Andruw's time on the ballot is running out.