Andruw Jones

As you've no doubt heard by now, Andruw Jones was elected to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown this past week.  What you may not know is that Jones spent the last two years of his career in Japan with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.  Jones is now the fourth player with NPB experience to be enshrined in Cooperstown, following Larry Doby (1962 Chunichi Dragons), Rich Gossage (1990 Fukuoka Daiei Hawks) and Ichiro (1992-2000 Orix BlueWave).

Jones signed with the Eagles in December of 2012.  His 434 home runs and 1,289 RBIs were the most ever by a foreign player entering NPB, beating out Frank Howard's almost 40 year old records of 382 home runs and 1,119 RBIs. Jones' timing couldn't have been any better.  2013, of course, was Masahiro Tanaka's amazing undefeated season and the Eagles rode it all the way to their first (and only to date) Nippon Series championship.  Jones would hit a paltry .243 but had 26 home runs and 94 RBIs.  He had 104 walks which helped him have a near .400 OBP (.391) although he also had 164 strikeouts.  He was elected to the Pacific League's All Star team as the DH.  He became the fourth player ever* to homer in both the World Series and the Nippon Series when he hit a three run shot in the first inning of Game Four at Tokyo Dome.  

*Following Johnny Logan, Roy White and Hideki Matsui.  Marwin Gonzalez was the fifth such player

His numbers dropped some in 2014,  His average dipped to .221, and he had just 24 home runs and 74 RBIs.  He drew a Pacific League record 118 walks so his .OBP was again near .400 (.394).  The Eagles released him at the end of the season and he spent 2015 in limbo before announcing his retirement in early 2016.

By my count, Jones had 25 "base set" NPB cards.  He had eleven cards in 2013 - BBM's 1st Version (#263), 2nd Version (#624), Genesis (#089 & #CW090), Eagles team (#E60 & #E84) and Eagles "First Win" (#26) sets; Calbee's Series Two (#138) and Series Three (#AS-23) sets; Bandai's Owners League 02 set (#109) and the Eagles team issued "Heat" set (#64).  He had another twelve in 2014 BBM's 1st Version (#016 & #337), 2nd Version (#461), Genesis (#009), Eagles team (#E57), Icons - Big Guns (#02 & #26) and Eagles "10th Year Memorial" (#88) sets; Calbee's Series Two (#088) and Series Three (#172) sets; Bandai's Owners League 03 set (#001) and the Eagles team issued set (#58).  His final two Japanese cards were from Epoch's two sets with the Japan Retired Foreign Player Association (JRFPA) in 2021 (#29) and 2022 (#25).  Here are the fourteen cards of his that I have, roughly in order of publication:

2013 BBM 1st Version #263

2013 Calbee Series Two #138

2013 BBM 2nd Version #624

2013 Calbee Series Three #AS-23

2014 BBM Eagles 10th Year Memorial #88

2014 BBM Icons - Big Guns #02

2014 BBM Icons - Big Guns #26

2014 BBM 1st Version #016

2014 BBM 1st Version #337

2014 Calbee Series Two #088

2014 BBM 2nd Version #461

2014 Calbee Series Three #172

2021 Epoch JRFPA #29

2022 Epoch JRFPA #25

It's kind of interesting - Jones is listed as an outfielder on the BBM cards when he was an active player but he was mostly a DH.  According to his Baseball-Reference page, he only appeared in one game in the outfield for the Eagles.  He did get into 48 games at first base, though, which may be why his 2022 Epoch JRFPA card lists him as an infielder.