IT'S TIME TO OPEN THE DOORS OF COOPERSTOWN FOR ANDRUW JONES
ALSO: TED TURNER DOCUMENTARY MAKES ANOTHER HALL OF FAME CASE
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HERE’S THE PITCH 2025
Selected and edited by Dan Schlossberg
(215 pp, $24.95)
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Had Walker Buehler been given a Qualifying Offer by the Dodgers, he would be paid $21.5 million in 2025. Instead, he became an unrestricted free agent who ended up with a one-year Red Sox contract for the exact same amount . . .
The Cleveland Guardians, worried they’d lose first baseman Josh Naylor to free agency next fall, not only traded him to Texas but instantly inked his replacement: 39-year-old former local hero Carlos Santana . . .
Justin Verlander’s quest for 300 wins is on hold if he can’t find a team at age 42 . . .
Speaking of age, the Yankees are banking on 37-year-old former MVP Paul Goldschmidt having something left . . .
Pete Alonso’s options are disappearing fast but teams could consider him as a DH instead of a first baseman.
Leading Off
Andruw Jones Deserves Election To Hall of Fame
By Dan Schlossberg
Many of the 400-plus writers who vote in the annual election for the Baseball Hall of Fame don’t cast their ballots before the final day.
That day is New Year’s Eve — Tuesday, December 31 — but conflicted voters often have trouble making up their minds even though ballots have 10 spaces for names.
To join the Class of 2025, winning candidates need 75 per cent of the vote.
Ichiro, who holds the single-season record for hits, is a lock, perhaps a unanimous one.
CC Sabathia, also listed for the first time, should reach the Hall eventually but maybe not this year.
Billy Wagner, who came thisclose to election a year ago, will probably clear the threshold too, expanding the new class to four (with Eras Committee choices Dick Allen and Dave Parker).
But the most intriguing name on the ballot belongs to Andruw Jones.
Like Ichiro and fellow incumbent Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Ken Griffey, Jr., he once won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves for his outfield play — a rare and distinct achievement that should stand alone on its own merits.
That Jones also hit 434 home runs, including 51 in a single season, is merely a bonus.
Ozzie Smith, Nellie Fox, Bill Mazeroski, Luis Aparicio, Red Schoendienst, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Rich Ashburn, and a myriad of others got to Cooperstown mainly for their defense. None of them were home run hitters, even though Mazeroski was the first man to end a World Series with one.
Twice named Minor League Player of the Year, Jones broke into the majors at age 19 and quickly became the youngest man to homer in a World Series. In fact, he tied Gene Tenace by homering in his first two World Series at-bats.
During Atlanta’s record streak of 14 consecutive division titles, Jones had five better WAR years than any of his more celebrated teammates, including Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Chipper Jones. That’s pretty heady company.
Over a nine-year span from 1998-2006, he not only made five All-Star teams but averaged 35 homers, 21 fielding runs, and 6.1 WAR — better than anyone not suspected of relying on performance-enhancing drugs (Jones trailed A-Rod’s 7.8 and the 7.5 of Barry Bonds during that streak).
According to Jay Jaffe, his 192 runs saved were 58 better than anyone in the game and 239 runs above average during the 14 years of the title streak.
Only late-career injuries plunged his final batting average to .254. He suffered a torn meniscus, cyst on his right knee, tendinitis, and hamstring woes — some of them at the same time. He even had knee surgery.
There are three Hall of Famers with similar batting averages, namely Ray Schalk (.253), Harmon Killebrew (.256), and Rabbit Maranville (.258). But none of them could field like the one-time Curacao comet.
As Jaffe points out, Jones’ total of 235 fielding runs not only leads all center fielders but all outfielders — 50 ahead of second-place Willie Mays.
His home run total through age 29 trails only A-Rod and his WAR ranks third. By the same token, his 58 WAR at the same age ranks 25th among all position players.
The former right-handed slugger, who finished his career in Japan, is in his eighth year on the ballot. He got 61.6 per cent last year — close enough to climb over the required 75 per cent if voters for the Class of 2025 do their due diligence.
The Braves have already retired the No. 25 Andruw wore so well throughout his Atlanta tenure and inducted him into their team’s Hall of Fame. Now the bigger Hall of Fame needs to follow suit.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Memories & Dreams, Sports Collectors Digest, and Here’s The Pitch, among other outlets. He’s also the author of two Hank Aaron biographies. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
…And So Does Ted Turner, As MAX Series Shows
Anybody who doubts Ted Turner’s Hall of Fame credentials needs only to watch the six-part ‘Call Me Ted’ documentary series.
The series, which features interviews with ex-wife Jane Fonda, Liberty Media owner John Malone, and Braves CEO Terry McGuirk, started streaming on MAX in mid-November.
Suffice to say that Turner bought a floundering franchise for a mere pittance, then breathed so much life into it that he not only kept the Braves in Atlanta but had a stadium named after him.
Though he knew little about baseball when he bought the ballclub, Turner served as financier, fan, and even manager-for-a-day, participating in such promotions as pushing a ping-pong ball with his nose and Headlock & Wedlock Day — a concept of usher-turned-publicist Bob Hope (the poor Bob Hope, as he described himself).
The Turner story tells how he converted his father’s billboard advertising business into the world’s first 24-hour cable news network and how he moved the Braves from a local Atlanta video outlet into the first baseball SuperStation.
He even drew scorn from the baseball establishment for putting the word “Channel” over Andy Messersmith’s No. 17 — since his local Atlanta station was Channel 17. The pitcher became a walking billboard until MLB killed the idea.
Through it all, Turner made the Braves “America’s Team” long before their 14-year title streak.
An outspoken, energetic, and often mercurial executive lived by the placard posted on his desk: “Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.”
He followed that advice with the team, eventually yielding his hands-on ownership to the combined baseball acumen of John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox. Both are now in Cooperstown, where Turner belongs too — if for nothing else than giving baseball its first black general manager (Bill Lucas) and for bringing an exiled hero home (Hank Aaron).
The winner of both a world championship in baseball and the America’s Cup in yachting, Turner was sometimes dubbed “Captain Outrageous.”
Never adverse to taking risks, his enterprises were on the brink of collapse too many times to count. Even his big-ticket free agents (Bruce Sutter, Al Hrabosky, Andy Messersmith, and especially Nick Esasky) proved a waste of hard-earned dollars.
But Turner, who once donated $1 billion to the United Nations, proved more resilient than a Teflon pan. He created the world’s largest privately-owned buffalo herd, watched it expand to 42,000 head, and then decided he needed to thin the crowd.
“We need to eat some of them,” he said when he opened a bison restaurant franchise called Ted’s Montana Grill.
But his most memorable statement came at the press conference announcing the firing of Cox after his first, forgettable term as Atlanta manager. “If Bobby weren’t the man being fired today, he’d be the best candidate for the job,” Turner concluded.
Realizing his mistake, Ted brought Bobby back as general manager after letting him leave for a three-year term as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It was then that Cox started to collect promising young pitchers like Tom Glavine and Steve Avery. Two other studs, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, arrived via trade and free agency, respectively.
From 1991, when they became the first National League team to vault from worst to first, the Braves won a record 14 consecutive division titles — even though other clubs spent more money on payroll. They nearly won the World Series that year too, losing only a 1-0 Game 7 that went 10 innings.
The Hall of Fame needs men like Ted. Only a relative handful of owners are included, with such other innovators as Bill Veeck and Larry MacPhail among them and Charley Finley also awaiting long-overdue enshrinement.
Ted’s place is waiting. At age 85, he doesn’t have much time to wait.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is weekend editor of Her’s The Pitch, national baseball writer for forbes.com, columnist for Sports Collectors Digest, contributor to Memories & Dreams, and author of 42 books, including collaborations with Al Clark, Ron Blomberg, and Milo Hamilton. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: How Rose Fared vs Top Pitchers
There were many reasons the late Pete Rose hit .303 over 24 seasons.
The switch-hitting Cincinnati native fattened up against some pretty good pitchers, notably Hall of Famer Warren Spahn . . .
Spahn, just winding up his career when Rose was starting out in the early ‘60s, allowed the notorious slap hitter a .531 opposing batting average . . .
Rose also hit .400 or better against Bob Welch, Hoyt Wilhelm, Robin Roberts, Ken Holtzman, Bob Friend, Ray Culp, Pat Dobson, and Clay Carroll, among others . . .
He took Juan Marichal for a .341 mark, hit .348 against Jim Lonborg, and did better than his lifetime average against Hall of Famers Jim Kaat (.361), Don Sutton (.339), Don Drysdale (.328), Jim Bunning (.318), Fergie Jenkins (.316), Bob Gibson (.307), and Gaylord Perry (.304) . . .
On the minus side, Rose wilted against Sandy Koufax (.175) and fellow Hall of Fame lefty Steve Carlton (.263) while hitting under .200 against Randy Jones (.183), Bill Gullickson (.192), and Bob Forsch (.198) . . .
Rose “raked” Nolan Ryan at a .273 clip — not Rose-like but better than almost all of his contemporaries against the man who threw a record seven no-hitters.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.