Thursday, December 07, 2017

Andruw Jones - a borderline HOFer?

I have this 1995 Bowman rookie card [#23] in a miscellaneous binder and I recoil whenever I see it - I remember buying it for something like $30 at the 2000 National Sports Collectors Convention and thought it was going to be a 'money card' of a superstar for years to come.

Maybe card values of any number of random cards probably declined over the past 20 years as players come in and out of collectors' consciousness - but Jones accelerated the dip in values by how his playing career fell apart after leaving the Atlanta Braves.

He got fat when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2008 season and then bounced around for years - even playing in Japan for two seasons before wrapping up his playing career.

After the fact, the most interesting thing is that Jones was probably the best center fielder of his generation and may actually have an argument that he's one of the best to play his primary position of all time - this Sports Illustrated story spells out the idea that he's unlikely to get to the Hall of Fame, but pores over his numerous achievements as well as his decline.

2 comments:

The Angels In Order said...

I remember in 2003 when Angel Berroa won, I ran to the LCS and bought a handful of his Bowman rookies. Who's Angel Berroa you ask? Exactly.

Fuji said...

The Curacao Kid was a beast! He was a perennial Gold Glover and hit over 400 home runs. Easily joins guys like Garvey and Morris as a member of the Hall of Very Good.