It has become as rare as a week going by without some sort of story about a past pastor of an Obama attended church, and it’s becoming rarer by the minute. It’s the unusual case of a star athlete spending his entire career in one city with one team, and being the consummate professional while doing so. In many respects, Tom Glavine is about as close as you can get to such a story, and even he spent a handful of years away from his original club (with their archrival no less) before returning home. The fact that ultimately, Glavine won’t hardly even be remembered as ever having played for the Mets, but ultimately will likely be thought of as a “Braves lifer” further illustrates the rarity of a player spending his entire career on one team. What’s even less likely to occur is for that player to be a Hall of Famer. What’s even more incredibly scarce is having TWO such players on one roster. Meet John Smoltz and Chipper Jones.
Much has been made of John Smoltz’s stellar career in the past few days thanks to his 3,000th strikeout that he recorded earlier this week. There’s not much need to delve too deeply into his accomplishments. We know, 200 wins, 150 saves, one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all-time, five times finishing 7th or higher in Cy Young voting, five All-Star appearances and three times finishing in the top 20 of MVP voting (pretty impressive for a pitcher). He’s the ONLY member of the 3,000 strikeout / 100 save club, and he’s had all of one season since his rookie year where his E.R.A topped 4.00 (which came in 1994, when he lost most of the 2nd half of the year, which is notable because in the early 90s Smoltz was known for his second half prowess). Not to mention there is the fact he’s taken less money to stay in Atlanta, and he’s done things that were against his personal preference because it was better for the team. He’s the ultimate professional, a sure-fire Hall of Famer, and the quintessential “Braves lifer”. Enough about him though.
Since 1995 there has been one constant in the Braves lineup, and that’s been number 10 in the middle of the order, as in Larry Wayne Jones Jr., a.k.a. Chipper. Chipper’s career certainly got off to in auspicious start. He entered spring training in 1994 ready to become the Braves primary shortstop, only to have a freak base running incident at first base in an exhibition game result in a torn ACL and delay his arrival to “The Show” for a year. Things couldn’t have worked out better for the life long Braves fan.
In 1995 Chipper took over for Terry Pendleton at third base. Pendleton was the anchor of the Braves lineup during their run through the early part of the 90’s, now the torch was being passed to Chipper. Needless to say, Chipper took the torch and ran with it. All he did in his rookie year was finish 2nd to Hideo Nomo in Rookie of the Year voting, bat third for the eventual World Series champs while finishing in the top 20 in MVP voting and then have OBP of .453 in the postseason. Not a bad debut. The incredible part? 1995 would easily be, statistically speaking, the worse season of Chipper’s career. Things would only go up.
Chipper set about to be the best third basemen, and best switch hitter in the game. If those were his goals, you’d be hard pressed to prove he didn’t accomplish them. From 1996 thru 2001 Chipper finished in the top 11 in MVP voting six times, and was an All-Star on five occasions. Remarkably, the one year he wasn’t an All-Star was 1999. That of course was the year he further followed Pendleton’s footsteps as he claimed the NL MVP award, thanks in large part to the fact he drove in 16 runs, had 7 home runs, and had a ridiculous 1.510 OPS in just 12 games against the Mets.
In 2002, Chipper’s run of All-Star games to an end as the Braves asked him to move to the outfield. It was a move Chipper wasn’t thrilled with, but his respect for Bobby Cox and desire to help the team win prompted Jones to go along with the move to enable to club to add Vinny Castilla. Over the next two seasons, Chipper, along with Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield formed one of the greatest offensive outfields the game of baseball has ever seen. However, left field wasn’t Chipper’s forte, and there were concerns that it was going to hurt Chipper physically. In 2003, Chipper missed more than 5 games for the first time in his career. It didn’t seem like much, but it seemed to be the start of trend. In 2003 Chipper arguably had his worst season since his rookie year. He still finished 25th in the voting, but it was the first time since his rookie season that he wasn’t 11th or higher.
In 2004 Chipper injured his hamstring while playing in the outfield. Upon his return from the disabled list it was decided that a return to 3rd base was in the cards. Jones missed 25 games in 2004, and even upon his return wasn’t quite right. His offense suffered again, and for the first time since 1997 Chipper had an OBP under .400. He also failed to drive in 100 runs for the first time since driving in just 86 in the strike shortened 1995 season.
People wondered if Chipper was beginning to hit the downslide of his career. Those rumblings only got louder in 2005 when Chipper missed over 50 games due to injury. However, while he missed a lot of time due to injury, his numbers were up. His numbers improved again in 2006, even though he again missed over 50 games. However, he was productive enough in the time he played to once again crack the top 20 in MVP voting as he drove in 86 runs in just 110 games played.
Last year though Chipper started to really get back on track. While he still missed time with injury, it wasn’t due to muscle strains and pulls, but rather a freak play at third base where he injured his hands. He still saw action in 134 games, and that was enough for him to prove he is still one of the elite hitters in all of baseball. He finished 6th in MVP voting, despite playing on a 3rd place team and missing nearly 30 games. Chipper led the league in OPS. The Braves were 73-61 with Chipper in the lineup, 11-17 sans the switch hitter. It could be argued that with a healthy Chipper Jones for 150 games, the Braves would have won the division.
Chipper has picked up in 2008 right where he left off in 2007. He is again among the league leaders in all meaningful offensive categories (save stolen bases) and has once again entrenched his place as among the most feared hitters in the game. He entered tonight’s game batting .422 with an OBP of .462. All he did was go for 3-3 and hit his 7th home run, driving in his 20th run. He’s made it quite clear that he intends to make a push for a second MVP trophy this season. One could argue that Chipper, since the summer off 2006, has been the best hitter in baseball. His start in 2008 has done nothing but further cemented his status as one of the game’s most feared hitters, and perhaps the most feared switch hitter of his generation.
It’s also further cemented his case to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Chipper, in his entire career, has been a part of one losing team; he’s got a career average of .300, with five years of .315 or higher. His career OBP is .404, which is 40th all-time, and he’s posted four seasons of .425 or higher. His .952 OPS is 22nd all-time. He’s already got 2,000 hits, and he’s still counting. He’s now just seven long balls shy of 400 and he’s 13th among active players in RBI. When it comes to being a professional hitter, few have been as good, for as long, as Chipper Jones has, and he’s not slowing down.
What should slow down though is baseball fans, particularly Braves fans. They should slow down and appreciate what Chipper Jones has brought to not only the city of Atlanta, but the game of baseball in general. He, like Smoltz, has been an icon in Atlanta, and has been a fixture in the Braves lineup. He’s among the greatest offensive 3rd basemen to ever play the game, and among the greatest switch hitters to ever step into a batter’s box. People don’t realize just how great of a career Chipper has had, and how much of a treat it has been to watch him hit a baseball all these years. If the last year and half are any indication though, there’s still plenty of time to enjoy it.
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5 months ago
A good article on how Chipper has quietly gone about his career- often overshadowed by a bigger offensive threat (if by name only): Justice, McGriff, Gallaraga, Sheffield, etc. Chipper has gone from being a kid to veteran. I remember him going down in Spring Training all those years ago. I remember thinking, "Hmmmm...that's too bad because the kid looked good. Good thing we have a stocked farm system and talent to spare on the infield!"
Then came 1995 and he was just another cog in that solid lineup with Grissom, Justice, McGriff, Lopez, Klesko, and Lemke. Jones really showed Atlanta and the National League what an asset he was and is: he hits for average and for power- from both sides of the plate, he plays good defense, and he can steal bases. Like Smoltz, Chipper is a team player; and that was never more obvious than when he went to the outfield- for the good of the team. As an Atlanta fan and resident since '84, it's not hard to take Chipper for granted because of his consistency. I think that as a community, we started taking all of those Division championships for granted about 1993. Then the Braves won it all in 1995 and suddenly not even the NL Pennant was good enough.
IMO, Chipper is one of many things taken for granted about the Atlanta Braves. If I live long enough in Atlanta to see the Braves flounder as they did in the late 80's, I will hear the belly-aching and complaining of my fellow Georgians. When that happens, I'll bring up Chipper's great numbers- along with those of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Bobby Cox.
5 months ago
I fortunately wasn't around for much of the "glory days" before the 90s, however, over time I've become more and more appreciative of what we've been able to witness in Atlanta. I just wish more Atlantans felt the same. Then again, since most Atlantans nowadays aren't true natives, it's kind of hard. But there is definitely a sense of people taking this whole organization for granted, which is too bad, because it's truly been something special to enjoy, and Chipper is just the epitome of it.
5 months ago
I don't see how he is underappreciated. maybe those in Atlanta don't give him his just do but nationally he gets a ton of love. He has been rookie of the year MVP and had a ton of national exposure over the years. he has been considered one of the top players of his era and considering he has played in the steroid era and is almost unanimously regarded as one of the few clean guys to have been a big star I think atleast nationally he get his respect.I do agree smoltz gets a lot of good pub but it's well deserved as well just watch as Chipper starts getting to more milestones he will get all the love he deserves.
He will surely pass 400 homers this year and probably get to 500 plus before its all done and barring injury he will get 3000 plus.hits.I do agree that most atlantans are probably transplants and are not as loyal as true brave fans but the local media will give him the respect you think they don't now
the only thing that may have caused him to get any negatives was his cheating on his wife but that is long forgotten by most now.
I despite not being a big braves fan respect Chipper Jones and like the fact that he is clean and has been on the same team his whole career guys like him do not come around that often anymore
5 months ago
He was never Rookie of the Year.
He hasn't made an All-Star team in who knows how many years either. The move to left field put a stop to his reign as the best third basemen, and now he's got to compete with David Wright, who will benefit from playing in New York when it comes to this year's Summer Classic. He's just not as big a name nationally as his numbers would suggest he should be. Other than that though, I see your points. I guess other fans in other cities probably do appreciate him more, but even still, he doesn't get the notoriety someone with his numbers should get, not that he's complaining though.
I don't know if he'll make 3,000 hits. He'd have to play until he's 40 to do that, I don't really see that one. 500 homeruns will be a tough one too. However, 2500 and 400 should be a cinch.
from 5 months ago
Right Nomo won Jones SHOULD have won.ROY
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