he was in eighth grade, Chipper participated in a baseball clinic at Valencia Community College, an event where young players had the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of MLB scouts. After the clinic, George Zuraw, who at the time was a scout for the Cincinnati Reds, informed Chipper’s dad that “Your son has a baseball future—a real future.”
Larry worked closely with Chipper on the physical part of the game, while Lynne put an emphasis on the psychology aspect of being a competitor. In the same 1997 interview with The Atlanta Constitution, Chipper said, “She was always like, ‘Don’t you ever let any pitcher know that he’s got you. Even if he strikes you out, you walk back to the dugout, and if you’ve got to talk a little smack to him, talk a little smack.’ My mom’s a tough little lady.”
After his freshman year at Pierson Taylor, Chipper’s parents decided to send their son off to The Bolles School, an esteemed private school that was two hours away from home. Not only would Bolles provide him with a better education, but the athletics were far superior to those of a public school. While, at the time, sending their son to a boarding school that was two hours away from home was a tough transition for the family, it was exactly what the young headliner needed. In our interview, Chipper said, “Sending me to Bolles in tenth grade was something that was critical in my development because I got to step on the bigger stage and they knew I needed that challenge.”
As an upperclassman, Chipper’s play on the diamond had MLB scouts and college recruiters in awe.
During his senior year, Chipper led the baseball team to the state championship game. That season, the Bolles star batted .488 with 10 doubles, 5 home runs, 25 RBI (or Runs Batted In), and 14 steals.
In the summer of 1990, Chipper put on more than just a graduation cap. In June, he became one step closer to reaching his childhood goal of playing with the best baseball players in the world. With the first pick in the 1990 MLB Draft, the Atlanta Braves selected Chipper Jones, making him the first Floridian to be chosen as the number one overall selection. He also became the thirteenth high school player to go first overall in the history of the MLB Draft. Following his selection, Atlanta Braves assistant vice president Paul Snyder, said, “Chipper is a blue-chip high school talent. The fact that he can switch-hit is a definite bonus, as is his tremendous speed.” The term “blue-chip” is often used when referring to the stock market, or, when one alludes to someone, particularly an athlete, who has been touted as an elite prospect. The switch-hitting infielder quickly proved to the Braves franchise that they invested in the right player.
In 1991, Chipper, as a nineteen-year-old playing Class-A ball for the Macon Braves, hit .326 with 15 home runs and 40 steals in just 136 games. For those unfamiliar with how Minor League Baseball works, each professional baseball team has its own system of teams that span from AAA (triple A), all the way down to rookie ball teams. The more “As” in the class name, the higher the level of competition. Essentially every player that you see in the MLB started his professional career in the minors. Anyways, Chipper was named the South Atlantic League’s number one prospect and was promoted to the Durham Bulls the following year. In Durham, Jones collected 73 hits in seventy games. Seventy games were enough for Atlanta’s front office to advance Chipper to AA, where he would finish out the 1992 season with the Greenville Braves. To no surprise, Chipper tore it up, batting .346 with 9 home runs. Although he played in just sixty-seven games, Chipper led the team in triples with 11. In 1993, Chipper’s childhood dream came to fruition. After starting the season with the Richmond Braves and leading the team in runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, steals, and total bases, Atlanta called Chipper up to the Major Leagues. On September 14, 1993, Jones collected his first MLB hit, a single in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in eight games at the end of the regular season, recording 2 hits and 1 walk in four plate appearances.
Since his sky-scraping objective of reaching the MLB had come true, I was curious as to what kind of goals Chipper was setting for himself at this point in his career. Once he became a full-time starter in the Bigs, Chipper said, “I always wanted to be considered a true and complete hitter. I wanted to hit .300, hit 30 tanks and drive in 100 runs, all while walking more than I struck out. If I was doing those things, I knew I was helping my team win.” He also informed me that, when it came to goal-setting, the Atlanta Braves legend “Focused on the immediate. I knew that if I prepared from game to game and keep my goal of being a ‘tough at-bat’ and not giving away at-bats, then I would reach my goals at the end of the year.” The idea of setting daily objectives allowed Chipper to stay “ultra-focused on the now to produce the results [he] wanted long term.”
An ACL injury caused Jones to miss the strike-shortened 1994 season, but in 1995, Chipper Jones had arrived.
In his first full season with the Braves, Jones led all MLB rookies in RBI (86) and runs scored (87). He was the first National League rookie since Dick Allen in 1964 to hit 20 home runs, 20 doubles, and score at least 85 runs.
In October, Jones helped the Atlanta Braves win their first World Series Championship since 1957, when the team was still in Milwaukee. Throughout the postseason, Chipper racked up 20 hits, which was good for second on the team. After the season, Atlanta Braves general manager John Schuerholtz was quoted saying that Jones is “more focused and serious than any young player I’ve ever been around.”
At twenty-three years old, Jones was a World Series Champion and living out his childhood dream. Despite the immediate success, Jones raised the bar, setting even more exorbitant goals than before.
Following a solid 1996 campaign, Jones was interviewed in January 1997 by The Atlanta Constitution. During his conversation, he was asked by a reporter what his goals would be for the upcoming season. Jones responded by saying, “Hit .320, .330, with 40 homers and 130 or 140 RBI.”
Let’s put some perspective on this. Since 1876, the first year of existence for the Braves franchise, only one player, Hank Aaron, had ever finished a season hitting .315 with 45 home runs and 100 RBI. The twenty-four-year-old Jones, using that confidence that his parents instilled in him, went on record to inform everyone he planned on putting up numbers, in the ballpark, that only one player in franchise history had ever achieved. Getting to the MLB was a lofty goal, but now aspiring to accomplish a feat that only one man in Braves history had done in the franchise’s hundred plus years of existence? Impossible, right?
In 1999, Chipper Jones went on to win the NL MVP Award, hitting .319, with 45 home runs and 110 RBI. He became the first player in MLB history to hit .300 with 100 runs, 40 doubles, 100 RBI, 100 walks, and 20 steals, a stat line that has yet to be duplicated. In November of 1999, Hank Aaron told The Atlanta Constitution, “I don’t think anyone was close to Chipper, as far as I was concerned, putting together a complete year in all categories.” There are now two players in the Braves’s storied franchise who finished a year batting at least .315, with 45 jacks, and 100 RBI: Hank Aaron and the sweet-swinging, switch-hitter from Pierson, Florida, Chipper Jones.
Following that season, Chipper, when asked about his remarkable ’99 year, was quoted in the Asheville Citizen Times as saying, “It was an amazing year, but that was last year; this is this year.” Appreciating the success, but always moving forward.
Remember that end-of-the-year goal of hitting .300 with 30 “tanks,” 100 RBIs, and walking more than he struck out? Chipper fulfilled this objective in four straight seasons from 1998 to 2001.
After ten seasons in the MLB, Chipper Jones had shown he could do it all. His career average stood over .305, he had over 250 home runs, over 100 stolen bases, a career on-base percentage north of .400, and he even legged out over 25 triples. The only other player in MLB history to amass those gaudy statistics in their first ten seasons was Larry Jones’s favorite player, Mickey Mantle.
As he entered his thirties, Jones continued to perform, even when
