When Chipper Jones was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, he made a point of hailing longtime teammate Andruw Jones for Cooperstown enshrinement. He wasn't just talking to hear himself talk (though some critics think he likes to do just that) when he said that, if you wanted to beat the 1996-2007 Braves, "you had to go through the Jones boys, too."
I've championed Jones the center fielder's Hall of Fame case from just about the moment he became eligible. I've also remained convinced that the reason it's taking so long to give him his Cooperstown due is the staggering decline phase that began with his final, injury-pecked season in Atlanta: sore knees, a hyperextended elbow.
That decline seemed to wipe his peak with the Braves through age 29 from too many observers's mental hard drives. When he signed with the Dodgers, he reported to spring training overweight and out of shape. Maybe it was a sign of bitterness that the Braves elected to move on. Maybe.
But after a first Dodger season well below his own standard, Jones suffered a knee injury severe enough to put him on the disabled list for the first time in his major league life. He'd never again be anywhere close to the player he was in Atlanta from there. For the rest of his career, he resembled a man trying to find something he felt stolen from him.
The Dodgers agreed to buy him out by deferring the rest of the money they owed him. He hadn't helped his own cause when he answered a particularly abrasive Los Angeles columnist by saying he played for his team and not for their fans: The fans never played the game. They don't know. Technically, of course, Jones was right. Diplomatically, of course, a player zapping fans doesn't give him public relations awards.
He tried again with the Rangers, the White Sox, and the Yankees, but no soap. He played two solid seasons in Japan, including on a Japan Series winner in Sendai, but two more attempts at American major league comebacks led to his retirement.
Before his late career injury issues and his troubling Los Angeles spell, Jones was a Hall-level hitter. But he was way off the proverbial charts as a run-preventive center fielder. He had a great throwing arm, a genius for finding sure routes to balls despite his habitual shallow positioning, and both elevated him where it mattered the most — not just in the highlight reels, either, though he had more than enough of those.
Jones retired with the second-most defensive runs saved above his league average for any player at any position. Only Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson's +293 out-rank Jones's +253. Jones is also +80 ahead of Hall of Famer Willie Mays among center fielders, incidentally. That's an accomplishment that's not just off the charts, it burns the charts.
Don't be silly. I'm not calling Jones a better player than Mays, or even Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. They were just too much better all-around to kid yourself. (Baseball-Reference [via Jay Jaffe] ranks Jones number 11 among major league center fielders.) I am saying, however, that taken strictly for his defense Jones was the most run-preventive defensive center fielder who ever played major league baseball.
But Jones all-around at his peak was remarkable enough. My Real Batting Average metric (total bases + walks + intentional walks + sacrifice flies + hit by pitches / plate appearances) shows where Jones sits among Hall of Fame center fielders who played in the post-World War II/post-integration/night ball era: his .556 is ahead of three Hall center fielders. (Andre Dawson, Kirby Puckett, and Richie Ashburn.)
The only other reason I can think of for Jones to be waiting so long is a domestic violence case between him and his then-wife in 2015. He did plead guilty, pay a fine, and accept probation, he didn't so far as anyone can recall trying excusing his way out of it or attempting to justify himself. It doesn't acquit him, but that's better than several players who've had domestic violence cases.
There are probably still some Baseball Writers Association of America voters who might continue holding that against him in hand with his issues in Los Angeles, and who might forget the role injuries played in his too-rapid decline. But what might also keep Jones outside the gate is some of the rest of this year's ballot.
Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia have premiered on this ballot and they're probably first ballot locks, even if you might (underline that) be able to make a case that Sabathia could be waiting a year. Not to mention ballot stalwart Billy Wagner (relief pitcher) in his final year's eligibility, and the likelihood that he just might make it this time around.
But Jones was a Hall-level hitter before he left Atlanta and he remains the new standard by which defensive center fielders should be gauged. You don't have to be Willie Mays's kind of all-around extraterrestrial to earn a plaque in Cooperstown.
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