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Andruw Jones Credits 'Bam Bam' Meulens for Opening Door to MLB for Curacao Natives Andruw Jones, the first Hall of Famer from Curacao, thanked Hensley 'Bam Bam' Meulens for paving the way for other Curacao-born players in MLB during his induction speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
COOPERSTOWN Maybe the Yankees, who still can tell you what he did in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, and the Mets can blame one of their own for Andruw Jones.
One of the first names Jones mentioned during his Hall of Fame induction was Hensley Bam Bam Meulens, a Yankees utility player from 1989-93 and assistant hitting coach in 2022, plus a Mets bench coach in 2020.
Jones, the first Hall of Famer from Curacao, wanted to thank Meulens, who was the first native of Curacao to play in Major League Baseball.
Bam Bam opened the door for many others to chase their dream of being a professional, Jones said during a speech finally given after nine years on the ballot.
When I made it in Atlanta, I knew I could inspire a lot of people from Curacao to reach the major leagues.
He has watched the likes of Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar, Jonathan Schoop, Andrelton Simmons, Kenley Jansen and plenty more reach MLB from a Dutch Caribbean island more than 2,000 miles away from here, where Jones put the finishing touches on a 17-year career Sunday.
The longtime Braves star center fielder was introduced by John Smoltz and spoke while Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Chipper Jones sat behind him, fixtures on Braves teams that owned the NL East and lost to the Yankees in the 1996 and 1999 World Series.The Jones boys are in Cooperstown now, Andruw Jones said.
Bobby Cox, himself a Hall of Famer, died in May at 84.Nobody in the Braves organization had a bigger impact on me than manager Bobby Cox, said Jones, who homered in his first two World Series at-bats , becoming the youngest to ever homer in the Fall Classic.
He put a 19-year-old in the World Series in the lineup and believed in me.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Bobby had confidence in me and helped me become the best player I could be.He commanded respect, created a winning culture.
You play hard.
You play to win, and you always give an honest effort.
Simple rules to play the game.
Jones, one of the greatest center fielders ever and a powerful bat, played with Atlanta from 1996-2007 and then bounced around.
In his speech, he thanked both Joe Torre and Joe Girardi .