(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Atlanta Braves to retire uniform-number of Andruw Jones
Nederlands
 ATLANTA, Georgia (USA) -
Atlanta Braves announced on Monday (April 3) that it will retire uniform-numer 25 of Andruw Jones.
The number will officially be retired during a ceremony on September 9 before a home-game against Pittsburgh Pirates.
...Andruw Jones last month...
...with the Netherlands Team...
...at the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
It will the eleventh time that the club retires a number to honor a player or manager and the first time since 2013.
The first time that the club retired an uniform number was in 1965.
Back then, number 21 was retired in honor of former pitching-legend Warren Spahn.
That was followed in 1969 by 41, the number of third baseman Eddie Mathews.
In 1977, Atlanta Braves retired 44, the number of outfielder and then-homerunking Hank Aaron.
Since 1984, the club also retired 35 (pitcher Phil Niekro, 1984), 3 (outfielder Dale Murphy, 1994), 31 (pitcher Greg Maddux, 2009), 47 (pitcher Tom Glavine, 2010), 6 (Manager Bobby Cox, 2011), 29 (pitcher John Smoltz, 2012) and 10 (third baseman Chipper Jones, 2013).
In 1997, all club's retired number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.
All of these individuals also were elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, except for Murphy and Jones.
During the latest election in January, Jones received 41.4 percent of the votes in his fifth year on the ballot-list.
A player needs 75% to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
In the press release that announced the retiring of number 25, Andruw Jones said:
,,It's a great honor getting your number retired.
You don’t think about things like that while you’re playing.
You just play the game you love.
I’m thankful to the Braves for giving me the opportunity to play the game I love.
Being the first kid from Curaçao to have his jersey retired is also an honor.
So many kids who grew up there watching me play and this will give them hope on what they can do in their careers''.
In the same press release, Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk states:
,,Andruw Jones is one of the most dynamic, beloved players to ever wear a Braves uniform.
His impact on this organization far outlives his playing days, and this number retirement is a well-deserved honor.''
Andruw Jones played in seventeen Major League-seasons (1996-2012), twelve of them with Atlanta Braves (1996-2007).
Jones also played for Los Angeles Dodgers (2008), Texas Rangers (2009), Chicago White Sox (2010) and New York Yankees (2011-2012).
The outfielder then played two seasons (2013-2014) in Japan for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Jones made his Major League-debut at age 19 in August 1996 and hit his first homerun in his second game.
He was then on the World Series-roster of Atlanta against New York Yankees.
In Game 1, the 'Kid from Curaçao' hit two homeruns in his first two at bats in a 12-1 victory.
With that, he became the youngest player in history to hit a homerun in a World Series, breaking the record of legend Mickey Mantle, who 20 years old when he homered.
In his seventeen Major League-seasons, Jones played in 2,196 games and collected 1,933 basehits.
That included 434 homeruns, 368 of them when he played for Atlanta.
He batted in 1,289 runs in his career and scored 1,204.
In 2005, Jones led the Major League with 51 homeruns and he then finished in second place in the voting for Most Valuable Player in the National League.
In his career, Jones played in five All-Star Games and won ten Gold Glove Awards.
In 2006 and 2013, Andruw Jones played for the Netherlands Team in the World Baseball Classic.
Jones then also played for the Orange-squad in 2015 during the Premier12.
In 2017 and last month, Jones was the Bench Coach of the Orange Team in the staff of Manager Hensley Meulens.
His son Druw Jones made his debut in a Major League-team on the final day of Spring Training when he played for Arizona Diamondbacks.
(April 3)
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