All-DBAP team strikes out without Andruw Jones

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the franchise compiled a working list of standouts who played there, narrowed it to a few selections at each position and asked fans to pick the all-DBAP team.

It was a fun idea. And for the most part, the fans got it right. Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford were among the easy selections who became major league All-Stars.

There was one glaring omission, however, a swing and miss that deserves an instant replay.

The greatest Bull who ever roamed DBAP isn’t on the all-DBAP team.

Andruw Jones didn’t play there long, and it was a long time ago, but to those who saw him every day, oh my ... the memories he created.

“He was something special, he stood out for sure,” Randy Ingle said in a recent phone interview, recalling the glorious summer of 1996 when Atlanta blessed his Durham squad with one of the most prospect-laden baseball clubs in Class A Carolina League history.

Ingle is in position to know. Before managing those Bulls, he was a coach on the 1992 Class AA Greenville Braves, a group ranked No. 23 on a 2001 list of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. That team featured Chipper Jones and Javy Lopez.

So Ingle has seen prospects. He’s never seen anyone quite like Andruw Jones.

“He was exciting,” Ingle said. “He had all five tools.”

He had talented teammates, too. Ron Wright and Wes Helms contributed to the league’s best offense. At the All-Star break, Wright (20 home runs, 62 RBIs), Helms (13 HR, 54 RBIs) and Jones (17 HRs, 43 RBIs) ranked 1-2-3 in the Carolina League in home runs and 1-2-4 in RBIs.

“We had some big boppers,” Ingle said. “They hit 3-4-5. Put those guys in the middle of a lineup, it was a manager’s dream. We could put up a crooked number on you in a heartbeat. That was such an exciting team. So much fun. From the get-go, I couldn’t wait to get to the ballpark.”

Damian Moss went 9-1 in 14 starts before he was promoted. Kevin Millwood, who threw a no-hitter in the majors, started 20 games that season. Kerry Lightenberg saved 20 games. John Rocker joined the Bulls after the All-Star break. You could debate whether the 1996 Bulls could beat the all-DBAP team in a three-game series, but that’s a story for another day.

The focus here, as it was then, is on Jones. No player rose to greater heights, faster, than Jones, who spent just 66 games in Durham before earning layovers in Greenville and Richmond en route to Atlanta, where on an October night in New York he became the only rookie in major league history to hit home runs in his first two World Series at-bats.

Think about that: Three months after wearing a Bulls uniform for the last time, Jones stepped to the plate as a 19-year-old starting left fielder for Atlanta in Game 1 of the World Series against Derek Jeter and the mighty Yankees at Yankee Stadium. And homered. And then homered again. Both times off Andy Pettitte.

“I get goose bumps right now just talking about it,” Ingle said.

And off he went, recounting those hot spring nights when Jones and Co. turned the DBAP into a home run derby.

“The way they went about it was so much fun,” Ingle said. “They’d start out going gap-to-gap (in batting practice), and then in that final round, they’d turn it up a notch. We went through a lot of baseballs in BP.

“And Andruw loved to play the game. He looked like a kid playing in his backyard.”

Part of what made Jones’ journey into World Series lore so spectacular was how quickly he ascended.

The Bulls have been a Class AAA affiliate since 1998. Promotions to the major leagues are as common now as they were unheard of then for a Class A player, a young one at that, to blaze through the entire upper farm system in one summer. Too many levels to climb.

But Jones was the rarest of rare.

His offense generated headlines, but Ingle recalled with awe the way he chased down fly balls, scaled walls, took away base hits. And that was during batting practice.

“I’ve never had a player where I had to say, hey, you gotta be more careful, tone it down, it’s just batting practice,” Ingle said. “But I did with him. He would run balls down. He took so much pride in his defense. A lot of guys, especially at that age, they just want to hit, hit, hit. Not Andruw. He worked at it.”

Jones arrived in Durham very much a known commodity to baseball insiders. Baseball America ranked him the game’s No. 1 prospect. He surpassed the hype, with tape-measure home runs and gliding, diving catches, always flashing that smile that suggested he was the happiest kid on earth. As the All-Star break neared, it was obvious Jones’ days in Durham were numbered.

Atlanta’s brass flew to Durham for a last look. They told Ingle to be prepared, that Jones and maybe one or two more would graduate to Greenville after the break. They assured him the rest of his first-half champion team would remain intact, poised to make a run at the Carolina League championship.

About a week later, the phone rang.

“I’ll never forget it,” Ingle said. “I was outside cutting the grass.”

They told him he might want to sit down. Jones indeed was headed to Greenville, but so too were Wright, Helms, Moss and and couple others.

“They told me I won’t see them again,” Ingle said.

All these years later, he still hasn’t. Durham hasn’t, either.

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 6:35 PM with the headline "All-DBAP team strikes out without Andruw Jones."