Atlanta Braves: Power Ranking the Retired Numbers

Call it fate, call it what you will.  Chipper Jones was only going to play for one franchise in his illustrious Hall of Fame worthy MLB career.  The first overall selection in the 1990 Amateur Draft, Jones was the Face of the Franchise in the field from 1995 on.  Jones won the 1999 NL MVP, 2008’s NL Batting Title, played in 8 All-Star Games, and will go down as one of the greatest switch hitters and third baseman to ever play the game of baseball.

Jones had 468 Career Home Runs, 2,726 Career Hits, 1,623 Career RBI’s, 529 Career Doubles and Career Batting Splits of .303/.401/.529.  When’s he eligible, Chipper Jones will go into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2018.

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Jones won back-to-back Silver Slugger Awards in 1999-2000 and finished 2nd in the NL Rookie of the Year in 1995, behind Japanese veteran Hideo Nomo.  Pretty much the only thing Chipper didn’t do in Atlanta Braves uniform was win a Gold Glove, but certainly could have in the mid-2000’s.  He did play in the NL with 3B Scott Rolen for much of his career, so keep that in mind.

There was not a more dynamic player in the Atlanta Braves locker room from 2003 (first year sans Glavine) than Chipper Jones.  When he spoke, players listened.  Even after three devastating knee injuries over his 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves, Chipper continued to play strong baseball all the way up to the age of 40.

In his final at bat for the Atlanta Braves in the inaugural Wild Card Game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Chipper legged out an infield hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  Fate wasn’t going to let him end his illustrious career with a season-ending, career-ending ground out to second base.

Number 10 inspired many youth ball players all over the globe to pull their socks up.  Chipper Jones was the NL’s counter part to the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter as the face of their respective league for a generation, effectively replacing Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. as Hall of Fame, one team guys.

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