Atlanta Braves Andruw Jones loses his balance after getting hit by a pitch in the second inning during game 2 of the World Series in New York Monday Oct. 21, 1996. Photo Mark Lennihan/AP

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By Mike Berardino
Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Chipper Jones knew he was looking at something special the first time he saw Andruw Rudolf Jones.

This was down in West Palm Beach, Fla., a little over two years ago. A strike was about to wipe out baseball's postseason for the first time in the sport's history, but neither Jones was too worried.

Chipper Jones was participating in the Atlanta Braves instructional league, putting the finishing touches on a remarkable comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

One day in early September, Chipper walked out into that blazing Florida sunshine, gazed into center field and saw his future teammate.

``Standing out in center field, he just looked like a ballplayer,'' says Chipper Jones of the Braves' Game 1 World Series hero. ``He had the body, he had the motions. He just looked like a stud.''

The elder Jones immediately began raving about the kid outfielder to anyone who would listen. He predicted stardom for the strapping young find from Wellemstad, Curacao, a small Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela.

Curacao, part of the Netherlands Antilles, is the same place that produced Hensley ``Bam-Bam'' Meulens, the ex-Yankees slugger who never panned out.

Sunday night, after 19-year-old Andruw Jones slugged his way into World Series history with two home runs and five RBI in his first two at-bats, someone complimented Chipper Jones on his prediction.

``Some prediction,'' he scoffed. ``Everybody predicted that. I just jumped on the bandwagon.''

That bandwagon is getting mighty crowded in the wake of Jones' stunning performance on what would have been Mickey Mantle's 65th birthday. ``Teeny Bopper'' proclaimed the headline on the back page of the New York Daily News.

Jones, who turns 20 next April, answered questions from the national media into the wee hours Sunday night. With his trademark smile plastered on his boyish, open face, the game's latest sensation explained everything from the spelling of his first name (``just something my parents came up with, I guess'') to his natural power (``I don't lift weights much'') to his behavior in post-Series champagne celebrations.

``Everybody's happy, everybody's celebrating,'' says Jones, who is fluent in four languages - English, Spanish, Dutch and an island dialect, Papamiento. He admits he drank some champagne after the Braves beat St. Louis in the National League Championship Series, ``but it was nothing serious.''

He was discovered at age 15 by Givanni Viceisza, who scouts the Netherlands Antilles for the Braves. Viceisza, one of 19 scouts who work for Braves international scouting director Bill Clark, found Jones when a team from Curacao played in a Puerto Rico tournament.

Major league rules prohibit teams from signing players until they turn 16. The Braves nabbed Jones on July 1, 1993 for the grand total of $46,000.

He started quietly in 1994, hitting a combined .290 with three homers and 26 RBI in 63 games in the Gulf Coast and Appalachian leagues. In 1995, though, Jones exploded to hit .277 with 25 homers and 100 RBI for Class A Macon of the South Atlantic League.

Baseball America named him its 1995 minor league player of the year, then duplicated the honor after Jones tore through three levels of the minors this summer. Through 66 games at Class A Durham, N.C.; 38 at Class AA Greenville, S.C.; and 12 at Class AAA Richmond, Va., Jones ripped 34 homers, drove in 92 runs and hit .339.

He was promoted to Atlanta on Aug. 15 and hit his first big-league homer a day later.

``Andruw brings an awful lot to the table,'' Braves manager Bobby Cox says. ``He's only 19 years old but it doesn't make any difference. If you've got talent and can play like he can, there's no reason in the world not to use him.''