Chipper Jones Makes Hall of Fame Case for 2 Braves Legends

An Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer has waited long enough for fellow team legends to get their call to Cooperstown. Chipper Jones took to social media Friday night to make a case for outfielders Andruw Jones and Dale Murphy. 

He pointed to the change in statistics that matter as a case for reconsidering these two. Apart from that, the awards and accolades are there. 

This quote has been edited for publishing purposes with the original tweet embedded below. 

“If batting [average] no longer matters amongst analytics people and journalists, why are Andruw Jones and Dale Murphy not in the [Hall of Fame]???” he asked on X Friday night. “What else do you need? MVPs, Gold Gloves, [All-Stars], Silver Sluggers! No other reason to keep them out.”

In their careers, Murphy finished with a career batting average of .265, and Andruw Jones finished with a career batting average of .254. 

There are Hall of Famers who don’t have stellar batting averages. Some notable examples include Ozzie Smith, who finished with a .262 average, and Harmon Killebrew, who finished with a .256 average. 

But more often than not, players were not getting the benefit of the doubt. Smith got in because of all the All-Star appearances (15) and Gold Gloves (13). Killebrew finished with 573 career home runs. Both hit some Hall of Fame benchmarks. 

Neither Murphy nor Jones hit certain historic Hall of Fame benchmarks. Neither had 500 home runs nor 3,000 hits. Historically, that can also hurt your case, along with batting averages that the voters don’t deem up to snuff. 

It probably didn’t help that both Braves legends were outfielders. Smith likely got the benefit of the doubt, being a shortstop, which lacks the same offensive standard. 

That being said, Chipper Jones points to accolades, and neither is lacking in that category. 

Murphy won back-to-back National League MVP awards in 1981 and 1982 and received votes in seven different seasons. Only 34 players have won multiple MVPs. That’s only six more players than those who are part of the 500 home run club.

Andruw Jones never won an MVP, but received votes five times. He was the runner-up for the award in 2005, losing a tight race to Albert Pujols. Not having an MVP isn’t a dealbreaker, but it doesn’t help. Other accolades do help him, however. 

Between the two, Murphy and Andruw Jones have 12 all-star appearances: Murphy with seven and Andruw Jones with five. There are Hall of Famers with All-Star appearances totals in this range. 

Murphy’s seven All-Star appearances are higher than current Hall of Famers. For example, recent committee inductees, Harold Baines and Alan Trammell, each have six. 

As for Gold Gloves, Andruw Jones took home 10, and Murphy took home seven. 

Andruw Jones has more Gold Gloves than any of the Hall of Famers or potential Hall of Famers being discussed besides Smith. Only 15 non-pitchers have won 10 or more Gold Gloves, and only four of them have hit at least 400 home runs. Suddenly, Andruw is in more exclusive company. 

Murphy won seven Silver Slugger Awards, and Jones won one. Looking to the aforementioned Hall of Famers again, Baines has one and Smith has one Trammell has three. A lack of Silver Sluggers doesn’t keep you out of Cooperstown forever. 

This is a comparison debate that can go on all day. The goal is not to make a conclusion on whether they should be in the Hall of Fame or not, but more context has been provided on why Chipper Jones made the argument that he did. 

Having similar accolades to Hall of Famers doesn’t necessarily make you a Hall of Famer, but it warrants further discussion on revisiting certain cases. 

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