By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2018 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has been released and there are two names on it that will be very familiar to Braves fans; the Joneses, Chipper and Andruw.

It’s been five years since they stopped playing pro ball in MLB and now it’s time for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to decide if their respective careers merit induction to the hallowed grounds of Cooperstown in New York.

When it comes to Chipper, I don’t think there’s any doubt that he belongs in the Hall and honestly I expect him to go first ballot. His numbers are worthy, he was never linked to PED use and he’s arguably one of the top three greatest players at third base in baseball history. Chipper goes in, case closed.

Andruw, on the other hand, presents a more complex case. His prowess in center field is the stuff of legend; more than one who watched him play will tell you he’s the best they’ve ever seen play the position.

The ten straight Gold Gloves he collected from 1998 through 2007 bolster that claim. That certainly helps his argument for the Hall. Ozzie Smith is often referenced as getting in based on his glove work, despite that not being a whole truth.

The thing is, he also hit. During that same ten-year stretch of Gold Gloves, Andruw hit 30 or more home runs eight times (26 and 29 the other two seasons) and drove in at least 90 each year except one (84), including five 100 RBI seasons.

He garnered MVP votes five times as well, including finishing second in 2005 after leading the league with 51 home runs and 128 RBI. That kind of production at the plate coupled with the stellar glove work at a particularly difficult defensive position is a truly incredible decade of baseball for a player.

The trouble is Andruw’s career following that excellent ten years.

Actually, the trouble really starts the last year of that decade, which was also his final year with Atlanta. After hitting over .260 with 51 and 41 home runs to go along with 128 and 129 RBI in 2005 and 2006, Andruw finished up his final year as a Brave by hitting .222 with 26 home runs and 94 RBI.

The power numbers aren’t bad but the drop off those three statistics are indictive of what was to come.

While his defense was still certainly better than average, anyone watching closely enough could tell that the once mighty center fielder was losing a step and that was indeed his last year receiving baseball’s highest defensive honor.

Andruw signed with the Dodgers and fell off a cliff. He didn’t stay in the same kind of shape he had won adoration in and in that first (and only) year with L.A. he only played in 75 games and hit .158 with just three home runs.

The next few years saw a better output, but he never hit higher than .247 or slugged more than 19 bombs. What’s worse, he only played five seasons after leaving Atlanta and he was only 31 years old at the time.

It’s hard to predict where voters will land on Andrew. Certainly, he’s not a first ballot Hall of Famer, but he’s in this grey area where he may get in eventually or because of the ludicrous 10-player limit and the current crowded ballot he may not even show up on enough ballots to stay in consideration for next year.

Maybe he doesn’t belong in the Hall but he deserves more than a one year appearance in the discussion.

Sandy Koufax will get brought up in this debate. He only played for 12 years and is in the Hall of Fame on the strength of about half of those seasons. The difference is that all of Koufax’s lesser years came at the start of his career and he retired at age 30, well before he could decline.

Andruw didn’t have the foresight to see what would become of him (how could he?).

Only one Jones is going into the Hall of Fame next year. The question is: will the other one ever join him?