Andruw Jones Defends Ex-Teammate Chipper Jones in Braves' All-Time Team Battle

During this time in isolation, MLB.com's in-house beat writers have decided to construct all-time starting lineups for all 30 big league teams. In order for the fans to have a say in the final product, some writers are resorting to Twitter for polls to determine the very best at each position in the field.

For Braves beat writer Mark Bowman, the decision as to who deserves to be the franchise's all-time starting third baseman was a tough one. Eddie Mathews and Chipper Jones are both Hall of Famers and truly deserve to be recognized, but one ex-Brave chimmed in on Bowman's mentions to express his bias toward his former teammate without reservation.

Andruw Jones overlapped with Chipper in Atlanta for 12 seasons from 1996 to 2007, and that's more than good enough for him. Mathews, who hit over 500 home runs and was a 12-time All-Star, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978 when Andruw was one year old.

Chipper, however, is crushing Mathews in Bowman's poll. He hardly needed extra politicking from his former longtime teammate. It didn't take long at all for Bowman to cave in and decide on Jones to settle it once and for all.

(Of course, the pro move would have been to let Chipper play left field, where he started for two seasons and part of a third, in order to field the best possible team. But to each their own.)

Jones was a career Brave, and his 19-year stint in Atlanta should be enough to earn anyone's all-time vote given his status as one of the great switch hitters in history. And you'd best believe that this is not lost on Andruw.