Braves to retire number 25, honoring Andruw Jones, this September
The Atlanta Braves are retiring the number 25 in honor of centerfielder Andruw Jones in a pregame ceremony on Saturday, September 9th, the team announced on social media Monday morning.
Said Jones, via press release, "It's a great honor getting your number retired. You don't think about things like that while playing. You just play the game you love. I'm thankful to the Braves for giving me the opportunity to play the game I love. Being the first kid from Curaçao to have his jersey retired is also an honor. So many kids grew up there watching me play and this will give them hope on what they can do in their careers."
Retiring Jones' 25 will give the Braves a total of eleven retired jersey numbers:
Dale Murphy - 3
Bobby Cox - 6
Chipper Jones - 10
Warren Spahn - 21
John Smoltz - 29
Warren Spahn - 21
Greg Maddux - 31
Phil Niekro - 35
Eddie Mathews - 41
Hank Aaron - 44
Tom Glavine - 47
Jones was signed as an international free agent in 1993 and debuted in August of 1996. He famously became the youngest player to hit a home run in the World Series, hitting two in game one of the 1996 World Series versus the New York Yankees.
Jones went on to play twelve season in Atlanta, winning ten straight Gold Gloves and being named an All-Star on five separate occasions (2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, & 2006). He was the 2005 Silver Slugger, winning the NL Hank Aaron Award and being crowned the MLB Player of the Year. When he retired in 2012, he had 1,933 hits, 1,289 RBIs, and 434 home runs.
Having been inducted in the Braves Hall of Fame in 2016, Jones has gradually increased in annual Baseball Hall of Fame voting, ending 2022 with 58.1 percent of the vote, his sixth on the ballot. With only ten years of ballot eligibility, Jones projects to reach the 75% threshold in the next four years to eventually be enshrined in Cooperstown.
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