Atlanta Braves: Larry Wayne Jones, Jr., Author
Chipper Jones stands stiffly among the most venerated of Braves greats. He boasts a career .303 batting average (per Baseball America), the 1999 National League MVP (per the 1999 NY Mets pitching staff), and a lifelong grip on all of our hearts. He, now, also is an author.
With a day job and two small children, I confess that I lack the free time to read actual books as much as I would like, and what little time I can appropriate is generally spent reading things that help make me less like myself. Further, I never…EVER… read books by athletes. Not even books written by one of our beloved Atlanta Braves
I, obviously, love sports, but no more than I would want to watch Steinbeck or Hemingway shag fly balls do I want to consume the introspection of someone who has been paid piles of money to workout and play a game. Enter: “Ball Player” by Chipper Jones.
Described by the man himself as an “in depth” memoir accounting the life he lived away from the ballpark set against his accomplishments within it, I must say I am incredibly intrigued.
It is no secret that Chipper had family troubles speckled throughout his career. It is also no secret that a few serious allegations have been hurled over his plate along the way as well. For this reason alone I am planning to carve out the time to read his book.
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You see, Chipper was one of the best and most consistently great players in an era where almost every great player bares the scarlet “S” of having probably cheated to achieve.
Chipper and Derek Jeter stand alone as, perhaps, the greatest of the few “no one ever questioned whether they were clean” players from their time, and, as I previously noted, he is one of our most beloved among Braves faithful.
Chipper is also a year away from home run trotting into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot where he will, alongside Jeter (shortly thereafter), carry the banner for the kind of professional integrity upon which many other huge names from their time would dare to even look.
Which is why I find this kind of endeavor puzzling.
Chipper should be gloating over his face occupying the “Mount Rushmore of Atlanta sports”. Instead, he’s pointing out the blemishes in his skin. While he should be joining Chip and Joe in the booth to talk about the back of his baseball card, he, instead, is going out of his way to talk about how imperfect he was while accomplishing it.
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At this I am, as I said, intrigued. Turns out that, while Chipper boasts a .303 career batting average and the ’99 MVP and all of our hearts, he may also have one thing none of us ever considered or expected…character.