Writing HoF Plaque for Andruw Jones
PLUS: Let's REALLY Turn Back the Clock
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Pregame Pepper
The Mets once had a pitcher named Frank (Sweet Music) Viola but now have a clasically-trained violinist in Katia Lindor, wife of their high-priced shortstop . . .
Congress may be packed with septuagenarians but not the Washington Nationals, who have a 33-year-old manager, a 35-year-old president of baseball operations and a 31-year-old GM . . .
New Atlanta pitching coach Jeremy Hefner says he can fix various issues with erstwhile ace Spencer Strider, who dropped his arm slot and was cross-firing in 2025 after undergoing a UCL brace procedure . . .
In addition to several injured starting pitchers, the Yankees are preparing to start 2026 without regular shortstop Anthony Volpe . . .
Alejandro Kirk, the standout but portly Blue Jays backstop, was thrown out at first base on an apparent single, ending Toronto’s Sept. 24 game against the Red Sox . . .
Another catcher, San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey, not only hit a game-ending inside-the-park homer July 8 but the first by a receiver in 99 years, writes Jayson Stark . . .
He also discovered that the Rays followed a 22-8 loss June 27 with an 8-22 streak . . .
Previously-unknown Toronto reliever Louis Varland pitched a record 15 times in the 2025 postseason.
Leading Off
Here’s How Andruw’s Cooperstown Plaque Should Read
By Dan Schlossberg
If Andruw Jones finally reaches 75 per cent of the vote for the Hall of Fame later this month, writing his Cooperstown plaque won’t be easy.
There are too many superlatives to fit into such a small space.
We tried:
ACROBATIC CENTER-FIELDER WHO TEAMED WITH CHIPPER JONES TO LEAD BRAVES TO A RECORD 14 STRAIGHT DIVISION TITLES. ONE OF FIVE OUTFIELDERS WITH TEN STRAIGHT GOLD GLOVES. ALSO HIT 434 HOME RUNS, 51 IN SINGLE SEASON. HAD SIX 30-HOMER SEASONS AND KNOCKED IN 100 RUNS FIVE TIMES. AT 19, BECAME YOUNGEST MAN TO HOMER IN WORLD SERIES AND ONE OF TWO TO HOMER IN FIRST TWO SERIES AT-BATS. FIRST PLAYER FROM CURACAO TO REACH HALL OF FAME.
According to baseball writer Jay Jaffe, Jones enjoyed one almost-a-decade stretch where his 6.1 WAR (wins against replacement) topped everyone not named Alex Rodriguez (7.8) and Barry Bonds (7.5).
“Jones’ shallow positioning, his quick first step, and an uncanny knack for the right routes made for fewer spectacular dives than, say, Jim Edmonds,” Jaffe wrote three years ago. “But those skills translated to a defensive performance that was an estimated 192 runs above average during that nine-year span than any other player (Darrin Erstad was second).
“Including the entirety of the Braves; run, which by the end had seen Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine depart, Jones was 239 runs above average, miles ahead of the second and third-ranked Braves, outfielder Brian Jordan (56) and shortstop Rafael Furcal (52).”
Maddux, Glavine, and rotation mate John Smoltz all reached Cooperstown years ago — and got there with considerable help from their center-fielder.
Injuries interfered with Andruw’s skills late in his career, plunging his final batting average to .254. But several other denizens of Cooperstown also finished below .260, notably Rabbit Maranville (.254), Harmon Killebrew (.256), and Ray Schalk (.253).
That’s why his defensive metrics are so critical to his Cooperstown chances. With 235 fielding runs saved on his record, Andruw Jones tops all outfielders — and is 50 more than the second-ranked Willie Mays, whose career was longer. Former Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, who played against Mays, claims Andruw was just as good if not better.
Perhaps WAR may be the best barometer of Jones’ candidacy. His 46.4 peak WAR ranks ninth at his position, 1.7 wins above average, and 2.0 above fellow Cooperstown contender Carlos Beltran, who narrowly missed election last year.
During Atlanta’s title run, Andruw led his team in WAR five times — more than anyone named Chipper, Maddux, Glavine, or Smoltz.
In his career, Jones had a 62.7 WAR.
He has the vote of USA TODAY’s Steve Gardner. “In his prime,” Gardner wrote of Jones, “he was as good a defensive center-fielder as the game has ever seen. And he was a consistent power-hitter, finishing with the exact same .486 slugging percentage Beltran had.”
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ says Andruw Jones passed the “eye test” that determines future Hall of Famers. Dan started covering baseball before Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974 and is still going strong as author of 43 baseball books. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Baseball REALLY Needs to Turn Back The Clock
By Dan Schlossberg
During the days when Major League Baseball consisted of two eight-team leagues, winners went directly to the World Series, playoffs were never scheduled ahead of time, and teams played games in daylight on natural grass.
Players, coaches, and managers voted for All-Star teams but were barred from choosing teammates. The DH was a pipe-dream even more removed from reality than inter-league play.
The best pitchers went nine innings — sometimes more — and sometimes threw shutouts.
Except for player salaries that were suppressed by today’s standards, it was truly the Golden Era of Baseball.
New York had three teams, California had none, and Baseball From Puerto Rico was shown on New York’s Channel 11 in the middle of the Manhattan winter.
Baseball tickets and baseball cards were affordable too, with the latter used more for flipping and trading than selling.
The Sporting News was a weekly tabloid packed with baseball information, including everything from trade rumors to Triple-A box scores, and had competition only from USA TODAY Baseball Weekly before that paper morphed into USA TODAY Sports Weekly. Rickey Henderson was on the cover of its first issue.
Followers of The National Pastime also had more than a dozen pre-season annuals, including the decorated Street & Smith’s Official Baseball Yearbook, Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball, Sports Quarterly Baseball, Athlon’s, and special editions published by Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News.
Without interference from the yet-to-come internet, newspapers and magazines thrived, educating millions of kids eager to learn not only about the teams and players but also about determining batting averages and ERAs.
During baseball’s Good Old Days, Marvin Miller worked for the Steelworkers Union while the only strikes occurred between the white lines. Baseball had nothing to fear except Fehr himself — and his omnipresent scowl during laborious labor negotiations.
It was a happy time. No advertising on uniforms, no post-season playoff tournament that regularly bounced the best teams from the final rounds, and no inter-league play that twisted once-cherished records.
There were league offices, league presidents, and separate umpiring staffs.
Salaries were kept secret so that envy and jealousy did not rear their ugly heads.
And nobody thought it was a good idea to place free runners on second base to start extra half-inning in an effort to shorten game time — or use an in-game Home Run Derby to decide All-Star Games.
Oh yes, All-Star, World Series, and playoff games were all staged during the day, when the future fans of the game could stay awake right through the end.
As Archie and Edith sang at the start of All in the Family, “Those were the days.”
Anybody who says baseball is better now hasn’t lived through the ‘50s and ‘60s, when baseball had no competition as America’s national game.
As this article proves, there’s a helluva lot to be said about nostalgia.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ grew up during baseball’s Golden Era and thinks it’s time to turn back the clock. Disagree? Email him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: On 2026 Managers
Since it’s easier to blame one manager rather than 26 players, eight major-league teams have new field pilots this season . . .
The youngest is Washington’s Blake Butera, at 33 a man younger than some of his players . . .
Terry Francona, a two-time world champion with the Boston Red Sox, is the oldest at age 66 (add another year in April) . . .
The bespectacled Cincinnati manager will have new opposing pilots in Atlanta (Walt Weiss), San Diego (Craig Stammen), San Francisco (Tony Vitello), and Washington (Butera) . . .
Weiss previously managed the Colorado Rockies, but Vitello comes straight out of college, where he was head coach at the University of Tennessee . . .
New American League managers are Craig Albernaz (Baltimore), Kurt Suzuki (Los Angeles), Derek Shelton (Minnesota), and Skip Schumaker (Texas) . . .
Shelton, Schumaker, and Weiss have all managed in the majors before, with Francona the lone active pilot to have multiple postings (Boston, Cleveland) . . .
Stammen’s selection is the biggest surprise, since his previous claim to fame was yielding four consecutive home runs while serving as a “relief” pitcher.
Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
Dan gets it!!! Always telling it like it really is. Thanks for another great year of newsletter and books!