Chipper Jones (born April 24, 1972 in DeLand, Florida), better known as Chipper Jones, is a Major League Baseball third baseman. Jones was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1990 amateur draft. He made a quick jump through the minors to make his major league debut on September 11, 1993.
After sitting out the entire 1994 season with an ACL tear in his left knee, Jones came back strong in 1995, leading all major league rookies in RBI (86), games played (145), games started (123), plate appearances (602), at-bats (524), and runs scored (87). He eventually went on to win The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award, and finished second in the BBWAA Rookie of the Year balloting behind Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo.
In 1999, Jones won the National League MVP award after hitting .319 with 45 home runs and 110 RBI. Jones led the Braves to the World Series against the New York Yankees that year, in which the Braves were swept. He did, however, hit their only home run in the series, against Yankees starter Orlando Hernández.
Following the failure of the Braves to win the pennant the past two years, before the start of the 2002 season, Jones announced his willingness to move from third base to left field to make room for the incoming Vinny Castilla. Jones proved adequate in left field, but following two more early playoff exits in 2002 and 2003 and a hamstring pull in the early 2004 season, he moved back to his traditional third base.
On August 16, 2004 Jones hit the 300th home run of his career in a 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.
In an 11-season career, Jones is a .303 hitter with 331 home runs and 1111 RBIs in 1651 games. Today, he is considered one of the game's best all-around hitters.
He is the only switch hitter in Major League Baseball history to have a .300+ career batting average and more than 300 home runs. Mickey Mantle, arguably the greatest switch hitter of all time, ended his career with a .298 batting average.
Jones has emerged as a team leader in recent years and is well-respected in the clubhouse. Following the 2005 season, Jones reworked his contract with Braves to give free up more money to pursue elite free agents, as well as virtually assure he will end his career in Atlanta. The revamped deal gave the Braves fifteen million dollars over the course of the next three years, as well as six million to use in 2006. The new deal also converted two final team option years to guaranteed contracts.
Jones was selected to play in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic. He hit a homerun in his first at bat of the classic against Mexico, in fact prior to the at bat Chipper told a coach that he would hit a homerun on the first strike he saw. This would be the game winning run for Team U.S.A. against Mexico.
