(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
   Andruw Jones for first time on Hall of Fame-ballot
Nederlands
 NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Andruw Jones is eligible to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time.
The Curaçao-born former outfielder is one of the players, who are listed for the first time on the voting ballot, which was announced on Monday (November 20).
In 2011, pitcher Bert Blyleven became the first Dutch-born player to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
...Andruw Jones with the Netherlands Team...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
According to the Hall of Fame-rules, players have to be retired for five years to become eligible for the Hall of Fame.
That means, that players who have played their last Major League-game in 2012 could be listed for the first time on the ballot.
But of course, they have to meet several criteria, including having played in at least ten seasons.
A player will be eligible for ten years, but will be dropped from the list when he receives less than five percent of the votes.
A player needs 75 percent of the votes to be elected.
Members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America have until December 31 to file their ballots.
The results will be announced on January 24.
This year Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Iván Rodríguez were elected.
Jones is a strong candidate to be elected into the Hall of Fame in the coming years.
However, there are at least three other first-times, who have a good chance to be elected in their first year of eligibility.
They are Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel.
Other leading candidates are reliever Trevor Hoffman and outfielder Vladimir Guerrero.
In January, they missed only five and fifteen votes respectively to be elected.
Switch-hitting Chipper Jones, a former teammate of Andruw Jones, played 19 seasons in the Major League, all with Atlanta Braves.
He batted .303 and is one of the top switch-hitters in history, hitting 2,726 basehits, including 468 homeruns and batted in 1,623 runs.
The third baseman played in eight All Star Games and was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1999.
Jim Thome played 22 seasons in the Majors, thirteen of them with the Cleveland Indians.
The first baseman batted in 1,699 runs and collected 2,328 basehits, including 612 homeruns.
Thome batted .276 and played in five All Star Games.
Thome also played for Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles.
Omar Vizquel, who played together with Thome at the Indians, turned 1,734 double plays, the most ever by a short stop.
Vizquel batted in 2,877 runs in his 24-year career and earned 11 Gold Gloves.
The Venezuelan infielder recorded 2,877 basehits, including 80 homeruns and played in three All Star Games.
Vizquel played 11 years for Cleveland Indians after having started his career with Seattle Mariners, for whom he played in five seasons.
He also played for San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays.
...Andruw Jones is introduced during the...
...2016 European Championship...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Andruw Jones played in the Major League for 17 seasons, including the first twelve of them with the Atlanta Braves (1996-2007), where he became the star-centerfielder.
Jones went on to win ten consecutive Gold Gloves and played in five All Star Games.
In 2005, he finished in second place in the voting for Most Valuable Player in the National League when he hit a club-record 51 homeruns.
With the Braves, Jones won ten Division-titles.
During the 1996 World Series, Jones homered in his first two at bats, becoming the youngest player to homer in the World Series, breaking the record of legendary Mickey Mantle.
From 2008 on, Jones played for Los Angeles Dodgers (2008), Texas Rangers (2009), Chicago White Sox (2010) and New York Yankees (2011-2012).
Hereafter, 'The Kid From Curaçao' played for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (2013-2014) in the Japanese professional league.
With the Golden Eagles, Jones won the Japanese championship-title in 2013.
While he played in Japan in 2013 and 2014, Jones becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame, as he played his last Major League-game in 2012.
With the Netherlands Kingdom Team, Jones participated in the 2006 and 2013 World Baseball Classic, as well as the 2015 Premier12.
In 2016, Jones was the Bench Coach of the Netherlands Team that captured the title at the European Championship in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
He also was the Bench Coach during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, where the Orange squad reached the Semi-Final for the second time in a row.
Other newcomers on the ballot are pitchers Livan Hernandez, Jamie Moyer and Johan Santana and outfielders Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.
There are 33 players listed on the ballot that was released on Monday.
There also will be a Hall of Fame-election coming month by the Modern Era Committee.
Included on that ballot are wellknown players Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, Luis Tiant and Alan Trammell, as well as former union leader Marvin Miller.
This committee is one of four (formerly known as the Veterans Committee) who consider players, managers, umpires and executives, who are no longer eligible for the BBWAA-election.
(November 20)
|
