When a Hall of Famer speaks, people tend to listen — especially when that Hall of Famer is Chipper Jones. On Friday night, Chipper grabbed his phone, opened up X, and fired off a message that instantly lit up baseball Twitter: why in the world aren’t fellow Braves legends Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones enshrined in Cooperstown?
“If batting [average] no longer matters amongst analytics people and journalists, why are Andruw Jones and Dale Murphy not in the [Hall of Fame]???” Chipper asked. “What else do you need? MVPs, Gold Gloves, [All-Stars], Silver Sluggers! No other reason to keep them out.”
The numbers back him up more than some folks may want to admit.
The Case for Dale Murphy
Dale Murphy was more than just a fan favorite in Atlanta — he was one of the most feared sluggers in the National League through the early 1980s. Two MVP awards. Seven All-Star appearances. Seven Silver Sluggers. Five Gold Gloves. For context: only 34 players in history have won multiple MVPs. That puts Murphy in a club almost as exclusive as the 500-homer fraternity.
Yes, he “only” hit 398 home runs and finished with a .265 batting average. And yes, he didn’t reach the mythical 3,000-hit mark. But the idea that Murphy wasn’t a generational force is laughable to anyone who actually watched him play. His resume screams Hall of Fame, even if the old-school benchmarks don’t.
The Case for Andruw Jones
And then there’s Andruw Jones, who patrolled center field like a vacuum cleaner in cleats. Ten Gold Gloves. Ten. That’s rarefied air — only 15 non-pitchers in MLB history have hit that number. Add in 434 home runs, five All-Star nods, and finishing runner-up in the 2005 MVP race to Albert Pujols, and you’ve got one of the most dynamic two-way outfielders ever.
Andruw didn’t crack 500 homers, and his .254 batting average makes the stat-line purists frown. But when you compare him to others already in Cooperstown, his accolades stack up. Ozzie Smith hit .262 for his career. Harmon Killebrew finished with a .256 average. Both are in the Hall — and rightly so. So why not Andruw?
Chipper’s Point Hits Home
What Chipper’s tweet highlights isn’t just a defense of two Braves icons — it’s the inconsistency in how voters apply standards. If batting average is being de-emphasized in the modern analytics era, then Murphy and Andruw deserve a fresh look. Both checked off plenty of boxes that others already enshrined did not.
The debate isn’t going away anytime soon. But when Hall of Famers like Chipper Jones are publicly pushing for their teammates to get their due, the conversation around Cooperstown can’t simply be ignored.
