In anticipation of Chipper Jones' induction speech for the Baseball Hall of Fame (Sunday from Cooperstown, N.Y.), 11Alive Sports offers 10 fun factoids regarding Jones' absurdly good career with the Atlanta Braves, accounting for one World Series championship, one NL MVP trophy (1999), one NL batting title and career numbers that have few peers among third basemen or switch-hitters:
468 homers, 1,623 RBI, 1,619 runs, 150 steals, .303 batting and .930 OPS.
Why only 10 fun facts?
Simple. This isn't the movie Spinal Tap (what about 11?), and of Jones' two jersey numbers with the Braves, #10 is infinitely more famous than #16.
10 FUN FACTS INVOLVING CHIPPER JONES
1. Five different Braves hitters (Hank Aaron, Chipper Jones, Eddie Matthews, Dale Murphy, Andruw Jones) have amassed 1,000-plus RBI in club history.
However, Jones stands as the only legend of the group to post eight consecutive campaigns of 100 RBI (1996-2003).
2. Jones (468 HR, .303 batting) remains the only switch-hitter in baseball history to account for 400 home runs and a career batting average of .300 or higher.
Here's the breakdown of the other four switch-hitters with 400-plus homers:
Mickey Mantle—536 homers, .298 batting average
Eddie Murray—504 homers, .287 batting
Carlos Beltran—435 homers, .279 batting
Mark Teixeira—409 homers, .268 batting
3. Jones ranks among the top-7 oldest players of baseball's modern era (1946-present) to capture a league batting title.
We're talking elite-level company of Hall of Famers:
1. 1958—Ted Williams, Red Sox (.328) ... approximately 39 years, 1 month
2. 1957—Ted Williams, Red Sox (.388) ... approximately 38 years, 1 month
3. 1997—Tony Gwynn, Padres (.372) ... approximately 37 years, 4 months, 25 days
4. 1990—George Brett, Royals (.329) ... approximately 37 years, 4 months, 20 days
5. 1957—Stan Musial, Cardinals (.351) ... approximately 36 years, 10 months
6. 2008—Chipper Jones, Braves (.364) ... approximately 36 years, 5 months, 10 days
7. 1996—Tony Gwynn, Padres (.353) ... approximately 36 years, 4 months, 25 days
4. Strange but true: For Chipper's NL MVP campaign of 1999, Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire notched more homers, RBI and runs than Jones, while posting higher tallies with slugging and OPS rate.
And yet, Big Mac didn't accrue a single first-place vote that year. Here are two guesses why:
a) The 65 homers represented a five-dinger decrease from the previous season, when McGwire temporarily broke Roger Maris's long-standing record of 61 home runs (circa 1961).
b) The Cardinals were 75-86 that season—or 28 fewer wins than the NL East champion Braves.
5. On Sept. 2, 2012, Jones launched his final home run in the majors—a three-run walkoff gem in the ninth inning (off Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon).
Atlanta trailed 5-3 heading into that final frame ... but it would rally for five runs to pull off the crazy victory.
For what it's worth, for the final 23 games of the regular season, Jones posted an ugly batting average of .217.
But here's the kicker: During that span, he also notched a rock-solid on-base percentage of .360. Go figure.
6. From 1998-2008, spanning 11 major-league seasons, Jones amassed an on-base percentage north of .400 10 different times.
The one blemish during that period: In 2004, the Hall of Famer endured four months of batting .240 or less. Yikes!
RELATED
For that 11-year stretch, however, Jones averaged 30 homers, 97 RBI, 98 runs and nine steals, along with a .316 batting average and .983 OPS.
7. Jones produced six straight campaigns of 100-plus runs in his 20s, which made us curious about the following.
Here's the franchise-only listing of most runs scored, among Braves legends, before they turned the Big 3-0.
Hank Aaron—1,077 runs
Eddie Matthews—1,032 runs
Andruw Jones—973 runs
Chipper Jones—785 runs
Hugh Duffy—775 runs
Dale Murphy—724 runs
Herman Long—876 runs (estimate)
Fred Tenney—611 runs
8. For Jones' MVP campaign in 1999 (.319 batting, 1.074 OPS) ... the switch-hitting extraordinaire didn't incur a hitless drought of longer than two games.
Think about that.
On the flip side, Chipper only notched three or more hits eight times that season.
9. Jones might have been lights-out in 1995, his first full season in the majors, but Chipper didn't earn 'National League Rookie of the Year' honors.
The ROY winner from the Senior Circuit: Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo, who created 'Nomo Mania' by posting a Fernando Valenzuela-esque ERA of 1.56 from May 12 to Aug. 10, covering 17 straight starts in 1995.
Naturally, the people of Los Angeles got swept up in the hysteria, and Nomo essentially cruised to the ROY award from that point ... despite allowing six or more earned runs three times during that campaign.
Jones' only problem in 1995: He saved his greatest moments for Atlanta's heralded postseason run to World Series glory—long after the ROY voting had concluded.
For the '95 playoffs (three rounds), Chipper batted .364 over 14 games and helped the Braves produce a 11-3 record against the Rockies, Reds (NLCS) and Indians (1995 World Series).
Also, charting the decisive Game 6 of the World Series (Tom Glavine's masterpiece), Jones and David Justice were the only Braves to collect multiple hits.
And last but not least ...
10. Did you know ... 19-year-old Chipper once stole 40 bases for the Macon Braves (Single-A ball in 1991)?
Which leads us to the final fun factoid:
Counting Mr. Jones, only 13 players in MLB history comprise the elite-level cluster of 450 homers and at least 150 career steals.
450 HOMERS/150 STEALS CLUB
Barry Bonds — 514
Alex Rodriguez — 329
Gary Sheffield — 253
Sammy Sosa — 234
Reggie Jackson — 228
Dave Winfield — 223
Frank Robinson — 204
Jose Canseco — 200
Ken Griffey — 184
Mike Schmidt — 174
Carl Yastrzemski — 168
Mickey Mantle — 153
Chipper Jones — 150
