Larry Jones To Retire After 2012 Season

Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. announced earlier this week that he will retire following the conclusion of the 2012 MLB season. Upon his retirement Chipper will have spent his entire career, spanning more than 19 Major League season, with the Atlanta Braves franchise. Precluding anything he accomplishes this upcoming year, Chipper will retire as at least a 7-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger and the 1999 NL MVP, leading the Braves to 12 postseason appearances during his career including 11 in a row from 1995 to 2005. In 1995 he won the NL Rookie of the Year and was an integral part of the a Braves team that won the World Series. The moniker "Met Killer" was invented because of Chipper Jones and he will go down as one of the greatest 3rd Basemen and Switch-Hitters in MLB History.

Chipper could not play a single game in 2012 and would still be a sure-fire Hall of Famer sporting a career .304 batting average with 454 HRs and 1,561 RBIs. Among switch-hitters Jones in 2nd all time in RBI and 3rd in HRs behind only Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle (esteemed company to say the least). However I believe Chipper's legacy goes far beyond the stellar number he's accrued over the course of his career. Grantland.com senior writer Rembert Browne perhaps best described what made Chipper so beloved in Atlanta when he said, "When I see Chipper Jones and I hear him talk, I can't help but smile, because without the jersey, he could easily be a pretty large guy who works in the rifle section at Walmart." Jones is the kind of guy who people love because they see no difference between themselves and him, beyond his terrific athletic ability. Chipper was never concerned with the glitz and glamour of fame but rather treated the game of baseball like a job, going to work day in and day out to serve the fans who came out to see him play.

In that way Chipper reminds me of my favorite baseball player ever, Cal Ripken Jr.. Both guys were just that, guys, who went out every day to work their hardest and earn the respect of every fan who came to see them play each and every time they stepped out on the baseball diamond. I can heap no higher praise upon an athlete than to equate him with Cal and as a Mets fan, I find myself somewhat stunned by that realization. In his career against New York, Chipper maintained a .329 average with 39 HRs and 123 RBI during regular season play but those gaudy numbers don't even begin to tell the story. Every single run that Chipper drove in against the Mets seemed to be the kind of back-breaking hit that makes you want to give up on rooting for your team all together. Right now I can think of at least half a dozen specific instances where Chipper turned on a fat inside fastball during a crucial juncture of the game to rip our hearts out for the upteenth time. Why then am I writing a eulogy about his career?

I can hardly nail down a specific instance where it happened, but at some point we Mets fans found ourselves expecting Chipper Jones to deliver a killing-strike every time he stepped up to the plate. It got so bad that we had to resort to petty name-calling by chanting "LARRR-RY" every time he came up because disaster became commonplace for us. Looking back now on how much of an impact Chipper has had on my team I can only tip my cap in admiration of his success. I have nothing but respect for Chipper (except for the fact that he named his youngest son Shea in honor of his success at the Mets old ballpark, Shea Stadium) and expect to find myself rooting for him during the farewell tour that will be the 2012 season. In my opinion the man is the 2nd best switch-hitter in MLB history behind Mantle and is the best Atlanta Brave I've ever seen (apart from that Hank Aaron guy, who of course spent most of his career as a member of the Milwaukee Braves). I wish him the best (albeit begrudgingly) in his final year and hope the torn meniscus injury he suffered during Spring Training (which occurred while he was stretching no less) does not hamper what should be a well deserved victory lap around Major League Baseball.