Will the real Andruw please stand up?

Being a collector who prospered in the mid-90’s, I would have to say one of the most shocking downfalls in baseball next to the Steroid users is a guy by the name of Andruw Jones. By the late-90’s, Andruw’s career was blossoming and his rookie cards in 1995 Bowman and Bowman’s Best were some of the Hobby’s most desired baseball cards.

I remember the day I bought the one and only pack of ‘95 Bowman and almost had tears of joy (hey, I was 15!) when Andruw’s mug was at the very top of the stack. Over the next few weeks I built an army of Jones cards to the point that I walked up to a fellow collector and traded over 20 different Jones cards (including the Bowman rookie) for one ‘95 Bowman’s Best. What can I say? I have always been a “Joe Collector”.

As a player, Andruw didn’t disappoint. He was always good for 30 home runs, 100 RBI, 20 stolen bases and a Gold Glove. There was nothing to dislike about the guy. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever and things began to change. The first skill to go was the speed, as Jones no longer was a threat on the base paths by 2001. More and more often it appeared that Jones only wanted the “long ball” and sure enough his batting average began to take a dive as well.

His appearance changed, too. It seemed that with every Spring Training that came, Andruw showed up with a new tattoo and a few spare pounds and by 2001 we learned just what type of morals Jones had outside of baseball (link). The truth is, in sports it does not matter if you beat your wife, get caught with hookers, or turn into a drug addict; if you can hit a baseball, throw a football or hit a jump shot, you will always have fans that will turn a blind eye to all your dirty deeds.

It didn’t even matter because in 2005 & 2006 Jones had the two best seasons of his career. Fans no longer cared how many times Andruw struck out or “ran like Cecil Fielder” when on base because he transformed into a bonafide slugger, hitting 51 and 41 home runs in back to back seasons. In 2005 he was even runner-up for the National League Most Valuable Player award.

Unfortunately, Jones’ career went into a downward spiral in 2007 and fell into the lowest depths of baseball hell in 2008. It began in ‘07 when Andruw failed to put up his usual 30/100 but still struck out 138 times and hit just .222 on the season. That was more than enough for Atlanta, as they rid themselves of Jones. This past season, Andruw only came to bat 209 times but struck out in almost 80 appearances and hit an embarrassing .158 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI in 75 games.

Suddenly, Andruw Jones’ status in the Hobby had dropped lower than dirt as the rumors started spreading that Los Angeles was considering releasing him and eating his large contract or worse, sending him to the Minors for some “adjustment”. Still, 2009 will be a clean slate for Andruw and he will come in needing 29 home runs to reach 400 for his career. He is just one good first half behind Vladimir Guerrero in career home runs but is still one year younger. There is no reason that Jones can’t get his career back on track and finish out with 500, even 600 home runs.

Or you could just give up on Andruw like everyone else has.