Cooperstown will welcome its new round of inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July. Atlanta Braves legend Andruw Jones is finally in! As he received at least 75% of the votes, which meets the threshold it takes to be inducted. MLB Network made the announcement on Tuesday as part of its extensive coverage of all the members on the ballot. Jones will enter the 2026 Hall of Fame class alongside Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran.
Jones received 62% of the votes last cycle and earned his Hall of Fame honor in his ninth season on the HOF ballot. He is widely regarded as one of the best defensive outfielders in the modern era. He was named a Gold Glove winner in center field 10 times, and some of his other accolades include five-time All-Star, and leading MLB in home runs in 2005 (51) en route to a second-place MVP finish. He is a career .254 hitter with 1,933 hits, 434 home runs, 383 doubles, 1,289 RBIs, and 1,204 runs scored.
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Andruw Jones Is Now Among MLB’s Best Players
With the recent announcement on Tuesday that Andruw Jones is headed to the Hall of Fame, he is now among an illustrious group of MLB players whose names are already enshrined in Cooperstown’s walls.
Although he did not spend his entire 17-year MLB career with the Braves, the talented product from Curacao played his first 12 MLB seasons with Atlanta and is certainly a franchise icon of the early 2000s, when the Braves were highly successful. He is the first player born in Curacao to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
GettyATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 16: Eddie Perez and former Atlanta Braves player Andruw Jones laugh after throwing out the first pitch prior to Game One of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Truist Park on October 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images)
In 1761 games played with the Braves, Andruw Jones had 368 home runs, 1,117 RBIs, a .486 slugging percentage, and an OPS+ of 114 with Atlanta.
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Andruw Jones Had Been A Catalyst for the Braves’ 2000s Success
Jones was a staple in the Braves lineup from 1997-2007, and had a 10-year prime that featured seven 30+ home run seasons, and many seasons of a slugging percentage north of .500.
Oftentimes, players who are elected to the Hall of Fame showcase either an extremely dominant prime or rare longevity playing (and producing) past their age-30 season.
The one knock on Andruw Jones’ case is that his decline did start semi-early in his career, and he did not put up great numbers past his age-32 season. However, he was such a phenomenal defender that his case ultimately stood strong.
Jones’s election process was also very up-and-down. His first year on the ballot saw him get just 7.3% of the votes back in 2018, but post COVID-19, his vote percentage saw a big surge, as his % increase in votes grew nearly 50% across four years.
While not all played with the “Atlanta” Braves organization, Andruw Jones is the 60th player to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a Brave.
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Andruw Jones Elected Into National Baseball Hall of Fame