Chipper Jones' 19th season in the Major Leagues will also be the final one of his career. The Braves announced that their 39-year-old third baseman will retire following the 2012 campaign.
Larry Wayne 'Chipper' Jones has been a fixture in the Braves' organization ever since then-GM Bobby Cox selected him first overall in the 1990 draft. He leads all active players in service with one club, and it sounds as though he'll remain involved with the Braves after he stops playing. The Braves and Jones have expressed mutual interest in continuing to work together in future years.
Jones' credentials are worthy of the Hall of Fame. The seven-time All-Star won the 1999 National League MVP Award and the 2008 NL batting title. He also has 454 home runs, 1561 RBI, more walks (1455) than strikeouts (1358), and a .304/.402/.533 career batting line. Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (536) and Eddie Murray (504) are the only switch hitters with more career home runs.
Jones' contract included a 2013 club option for $7MM that would have become guaranteed at $9MM if Jones had played 123 games in 2012. The BB Abbott client earned upwards of $155MM as a Major Leaguer, according to Baseball-Reference.
Photo courtesy Icon SMI.
Congrats Chipper on a great career. Hall of Famer and definitely wish you nothing but success this season. Just make sure you don’t negatively impact my Yankees ;).
No surprise here. Great career Larry had. Good luck.
Laaaaaarrrrryyyyyy. Laaaaaaaaarrrrrrrryyyyy.
Chipper, I have followed you from day 1 of your career and I have to say it’s been a great ride for me. You, sir, have a lot to be proud of and certainly a lot to be thankful for. Looking forward to your HOF induction ceremony! Thanks for all those years CJ!!!
Played for only the Braves, and had a hall of fame career. Hopefully his farewell tour can generate a little more traffic at the stadium because our attendance in Atlanta is awful. Much to be celebrated, and best of luck to him following baseball.
Here’s to an MVP season! Party like it’s 1999 Chipper!
What a career, first ballot all the way!
It’s a good thing i live an hour away from cooperstown because i will be there for his HOF induction. Thanks for all the memories Chipper, you’re my favorite athlete, you have always have been and you always will be. Let’s make this last year a good one!!!
Even though he was a Brave, I respect the career Chipper had. A quiet great.
Laaaaaarrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy
*Chipper hits a home run off nameless mets pitcher, trots around bases with smirk on his face, names kid after former mets stadium, rides off into HOF sunset*
lol
First-ballot HOF. Thanks for all the memories, Chip.
glad he gave everybody a heads up. now he can have a farewell tour… wonder if the mets sill pony up after all the years he tormented them
I’m a Braves fan, and could never root for the Mets, but the Mets have knowledgable fans who appreciate great competitors…even ones who killed them over the years. Other than his final home game, I’d bet on Chipper’s greatest send-off happening in NY. After all, no NL fans should be happier to see him go.
He will always be “Larry” in NY…
Without a doubt my favorite taunt of all time.
End of an era – appreciate the fact that as Brave’s fans, we got to watch one of the best third basemen ever to play the game on a daily basis.
Come on Chipper, let´s make 20 years of service instead of 19…sound better eh?
Met fans everywhere rejoice!
Chipper’s great, wish him all the best.
So who takes over at 3rd? Uggla? Prado? I don’t remember them having a legit 3B prospect since Andy Marte. I’m guessing there are no Ryan Zimmermans in the draft, either. Might be a decent time to inquire on Mike Olt or Zack Cox.
People seem to love Terdoslavich, though I don’t think he’ll be ready in a year.
You’re a Terdoslavich…
Sorry I couldn’t resist
Great career Chip. Easily in the top 3 switch hitters of all time with Rose and Mantle.
Booking my trip to the ted for late this season, and putting money aside for the trip to cooperstown in a few years. I’ve been to a Braves game every year of Chippers career when they come to the west coast, and it’s usually seats down the third base line. I’ve enjoyed growing up rooting for Chipper Jones and the Braves, and it’s going to be different without himon the roster.
same here. Going down for a week or so in August and someone is giving me a ride to cooperstown because I would assume that the parking there for HOF weekend is horrendous
Its been a good one Chipper “Hooters” Jones but I will be glad to see whos next. Hopefully that 15 mill. will go to get us some power and consistency in the lineup.
This off season is going to be pretty interesting, with even more money coming off the books for the Braves now!
Hope he becomes the Braves manager at some point.
Maybe until Shea Jones gets to play
I’m soooo looking forward to a Chipper-less division!
If he does make the Bigs, that’s gonna get old fast
Sad news for Braves fans and MLB fans. Chipper is a first ballot HOF and a well respected player in the league. There aren’t many players/people that would take paycuts like he did to stay with the Braves organization. Even the average joe will generally take more money to go elsewhere. Chipper is a class act all the way! He will go down as one of the best 3B’s ever to play the game.
One last hurrah to add to an already stellar career.
My friends and I brought this up recently about who over the past 15 years was the best hitter of the generation without using steroids. I picked Chipper. He is underrated and always put up great numbers, now there have been other great hitters who can have the honor of being the best of a generation as well but honestly chipper has to be in the conversation. I just wish he could have stayed healthy more towards the end.
I would like to agree, but how do we know he wasn’t using?
Judging by the injury-caused slumps he experienced from 2004-2007 (right when Barry was doing his thing), I think we can assume that he didn’t use. If he would have been juicing, his body wouldn’t have started failing on him. Also, his power #’s were consistent throughout his career.
Sure he will.
Annoying your commentary at first it was.
Enjoy it more now I do.
Fire Fredi and have Chip be a player/manager so he can just step into the latter role next year.
It’s unfortunate that Chipper is going to retire just as the Braves are about to become an elite team in the NL. They are going to be contenders for numerous years to come. I’m not a Braves fan, but I like Chipper. It’s a shame his body can’t hang in there to see what comes of the Braves in a couple of years.
The Braves already were an “elite” team in the NL throughout much of his career.
I don’t think he could complain, he’s had a stellar career and also has a WS ring to boot.
Going to miss Chipper. Mets fans are dancing in the streets, but they were scurred for 19 years. Win it for Chipper!
Going to miss Chipper. Mets fans are rejoicing and dancing in the streets but they were scurred of him for 19 years.
Going to miss Chipper. Mets fans are rejoicing and dancing in the streets but they were scurred from him for 19 years.
NO ROIDS and it showed on his body. First ballot over the cheaters.
His numbers are almost a replica of Bagwell’s (82.7 vs 79.9 WAR)… but Chipper needed to acomplish those numbers 18 seasons and 8,597AB instead of the 15 seasons and 7,797AB of Bagwell.
But….and I’m not accusing here…PED use? I would believe Bags used before I would believe Chip used. Even though I actually don’t believe either of them did. Just sayin’
Thank you Capt. Obvious – just gotta rain on peoples parades – pure class
Be nice you should be.
Maybe he is. If I were a MLB player, I would definitively read posts of myself on my favorite(s) MLB website(s).
Offensive WAR for Switch Hitters (This was as of May 2011 so Chippers has adjusted of course)
1st – Mantle 122.1
2nd – Chipper 82.9
3rd- Rose 81.6
8th – Murray 60.2
Sorry but there’s more to it than HR’s. No way Murray is #2. I wouldn’t put Chipper at #1 (like he isn’t in that list) nor would I put Mantle lower than #2.
However I’m not saying I’d put Murray 8th, but there’s no way he should be ahead of the other 3.
He did not have speed, so more of a 4 tool player.
I’ve always wondered how much longer it takes you write those comments and how many mistakes you make. Or is it just natural to you now Master Jedi?
Love it when the Yankees and Braves go at it. My cousin is a big Braves fan and we always go at each other when they play. Can’t wait for the season to start!
Rose had better numbers per 162 game average than Murray did in every single category but HR and Slugging. He also played 5 more seasons where his numbers kept declining whereas Murray in his last 5 seasons, had 2 seasons which were better than his career averages.
There’s more to baseball than HR. What’s next? Are you going to tell me Jim Rice was better than Ichiro?
Speaking of Yankees/Braves, there’s a good chance we will see both 2 of the greatest Brave and Yankee players making their Hall of Fame speeches the same day (Chipper, and Mo assuming he retires after this year).
I disagree, but hey, all of the arguments is 1 of the many things that makes baseball great.
Oh I’m not much of an advanced stats guy myself. But we all know no stat in baseball is a perfect stat, including WAR
From Wikipedia: “There is no clearly established formula for WAR. Sites that provide the statistic, such as Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, and Baseball Reference, all calculate it differently”.
That being said, if there is no clearly established formula for Calculating WAR, then it shouldnt be used to evaluate the talent of the player. Just Sayin’
Absolutley Nothing!!!
True, but that’s over 21 years…so he averaged about 5-6 a year, which is Iannettian speed, circa 2011. They also didn’t have “defensive indifference” back in Murray’s day, which padded his totals.
I’m willing to concede that Murray (whom I also saw play for much of his career) was a smart baserunner, but other than a few years when he was young, nobody should ever accuse Eddie Murray of having had speed.