I really thought it would be this year, but the absolutely delightful Baseball Writers of America are doing their damnedest to drive me crazy. While I am more of a college football guy than anything, the Atlanta Braves were my first team. I grew up in Braves Country trying to be the next Chipper Jones. While that was going on, I saw another Jones doing some unbelievable things in the outfield.

While baseball is a sport defined by stats, they do not really do much for me anymore. Nobody is getting to 300 wins again. 500 home runs do not carry the same weight as they once did, pre and post-steroid era. However, I have followed along to MLB long enough to know a Baseball Hall of Famer when I see one. Andruw Jones was the greatest defensive outfielder I have ever seen play baseball!

So with Jones hovering around the 75-percent threshold of getting into the Hall of Fame in his eighth year on the ballot, what are we doing? Roughly 40 percent of the ballots are known, which makes it even more troubling. This is when the plethora of anonymous ballots shrouded in cowardice start to come in. There will be two, possibly three, maybe even four players getting in, but probably not Jones.

Carlos Beltran getting in before Jones would have made my 22-year-old brain explode in college…

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Right now, we have two players being inducted by way of the Classic Baseball Era Committee in Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen. As far as who will get in from this year’s ballot, Ichiro Suzuki and C.C. Sabathia are locks, with Billy Wagner likely getting in on his final ballot. Beltran is just above the 75-percent threshold but may fall back to being just on the outside of getting in with Jones and others.

As I have wisened, matured and whatnot, I have come to realize that Hall of Fames should be about two things: Honoring the games themselves and making it about the fans. Without the fans, these halls of fame would be meaningless. If I had a ballot, I would do everything in my power to put a maximum of 10 on it annually. The Dan Shaughnessys of the world exist to drive everyone crazy.

There is more to baseball than how a player stacks up to Larry Bird. Not everyone can be Larry Legend on the hardwood, the gridiron, the rink, the pitch or the diamond. Sometimes, we just have to appreciate what we have coming down the pipeline. The second half of Jones’ career was totally unforgettable, but his first decade in Atlanta is the stuff I will tell my kids and grandchildren all about.

Braves Country wants it to happen. Like Fred McGriff, we have to wait. We still wait for Dale Murphy…