Andruw Jones: 'I'm so honored and so proud' to be a Hall of Famer

The Curaçao Kid was finally elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his ninth year on the ballot

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Braves

After eight years of disappointment, Andruw Jones finally got the official word on Tuesday night that he was a Hall of Famer.

Jones, 48, was announced as one of two players voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The long-time Atlanta Brave received 78.4% of the vote, clearling the 75% threshold required for induction in his ninth year on the ballot.

Jones wasn’t in the customary Atlanta-area sushi restaurant where he’s been for all of the previous announcements. No, he was attending a charity golf tournament in the Dominican Republic hosted by Albert Pujols. Several Hall of Famers were in attendance and swarmed him as MLB Network made the announcement, including Ken Griffey Jr, CC Sabathia, and Adrian Beltre.

Andruw said in a virtual media availability after the announcement that he spent the day in his thoughts. “I started thinking about my dad, who passed away in 2016, that meant so much to me and in my career. ]…] He was working and after work, he would go out, get on the field, and work out with me and get me ready to compete and be ready for a long career. So I started thinking about that and started tearing (up) a little by myself, being honest with you, in my room.”

“It was just one of those moments that I was like ‘man, I wish he was here with me and (could) enjoy this’, but I didn’t know it was going to happen.”

To Andruw’s point, it’s been a long climb to get to the 75% threshold required for induction. Per MLB researcher Sarah Langs, Andruw’s climb from a 7.3% vote share on this first ballot to this year’s 78.4% tally represents the lowest debut vote percentage to eventually end up in the Hall of Fame since the BBWAA instituted annual voting in 1966. Jones received just 31 votes in 2018 and finished this election cycle with 333.

While it was never a goal of Jones to make the hall, explaining, “You don’t play this game to be a Hall of Famer. You play to help your team win a championship. And when you go out there and be consistent and put up numbers and then your name starts popping up [as a candidate], it’s a big honor for me, and it’s a big honor for my family.” - he’s still grateful for the recognition.

A lot of the credit for Jones being inducted goes to new voters. Per the BBWAA rules, ten years of dues-paying membership is required to receive Hall of Fame voting privileges, and this happens to be the very first year that MLB.com and other internet writers, of which there were more than 50, received eligibility to vote.

Of the 38 known ballots from first-time voters - ballots are private unless either directly released or approved by the voter for Hall release ten days from today - 92.1% of those voted for Jones, adding nearly 2% to his final total.

Andruw thanked those voters numerous times during the availability, but made sure he recognized his teammates who had already been inducted. “They knew how I went about my business. They knew what went in(to) every day that’ll show up (in the results) […] I’m very happy to be their teammates and now that I get a chance to be (at) the same point and have the same legacy with them - it’s an honor.”

Those same players were vocal with their appreciation and recognition of what Andruw meant to those 1990s Braves teams, with Chipper Jones¹ posting on social media, “Congrats brother! Took too long, but we gonna have a good time in C’town this summer!”

Andruw’s induction makes him the eighth member of the 1990s Braves to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, following the starting pitcher trio of Tom Glavine (2014), John Smoltz (2015), and Greg Maddux (2014) as well as third baseman Chipper Jones (2018), first baseman Fred McGriff (2023), manager Bobby Cox (2014), and general manager and eventual team president John Schuerholz (2017).

But while he’s the eighth 90s Braves to be inducted, he’s also the first from the baseball-mad island of Curaçao, a fact that’s not lost on Jones. “We grew up playing baseball so young, you know? That’s all we knew - (when) we grew up, we wanted to play baseball. I would say thank you to Hensley Meulens² for giving us an opportunity, (for) being the first guy that opened the door for us and the guys that came after him. Curaçao had so many guys that have signed professionally that never made it. When I got the opportunity to sign, I used to work out with them, and they told me so much about what I need to look forward to.”

While Jones is cognisant that he’s the first from Curaçao to enter the hall, he doesn’t believe he’ll be the last. “For the first player to make it from Curaçao, it’s a great honor, and I know we’re going to have more people coming. I know Kenley Jansen is going to be the next one, and I can’t wait to see him.”

Jansen, 38, just signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers to be their closer as he works towards 500 career saves. He ended 2025 at 476, putting up 29 with the Angels last season.

While Meulens may have been the first from the island to play in MLB, Jones blazed not only a trail for others to follow, but also established that it will more than likely involve the player coming through Atlanta. Of the top seven players from Curaçao by Baseball Reference WAR to play in MLB, six of them have been a member of the Braves. Jones (1996-2012) has been joined by Jansen ( 2022), SS Andrelton Simmons (2012-2015), SP Jair Jurrjens (2008-2012), Jurickson Profar (2025), and Ozzie Albies (2017-2025). Only Jonathan Schoop, who last played in MLB in 2023, is on the WAR leaderboard and did not play for the Braves. The only active player from Curaçao in MLB at the moment other than Jansen, Albies, and Profar is Boston Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who has the middle name of “Chipper” after Atlanta’s Hall of Fame third baseman.

Jones said that he’s excited to go to Cooperstown, although it won’t be his very first visit to one of baseball’s most sacred sites. “I’ve been there with my son (Druw, an Arizona Diamondbacks prospect), and then I went there for Chipper’s induction and then for Derek Jeter’s induction. […] It’s gonna be a great moment to actually be on the stage with those guys that you idolize, those guys that you grew up watching and competed with.”

Jones is set to be inducted on July 26, 2026 in Cooperstown, New York. Jones will be joined by centerfielder Carlos Beltran, who received 84.2% of votes, and second baseman Jeff Kent, who was selected by the Contemporary Era Committee last December.

Beltran and Jones, born one day apart in 1977, represent just the fourth time in annual voting history that two non-pitchers at the same position were inducted on the same ballot, with the most recent being left fielders Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice in 2004. The two men shared a moment via FaceTime after the announcement. “He called me, FaceTimed me, to say congratulations. And I was so proud of him, I congratulated him. […] Playing the same position, competing against each other for so many years? It’s a great honor to be in the same elite group with him and going to the Hall at the same time.”

The Atlanta Braves have announced that as part of their recognition of Andruw’s Hall of Fame induction, they are giving away an Andruw Jones bobblehead on July 30th, when the Braves take on the Washington Nationals at Truist Park.

1. No relation, despite this photo making you think otherwise

2. The first player from Curaçao to appear in an MLB game