Saturday, September 20, 2014

Why didn't Chipper Jones get a farewell tour?

Free agent Vinny Castilla replaced him at third base in 2002 and 2003 but other than playing left field those two seasons, Chipper Jones was the starting third baseman for the Atlanta Braves from 1995 through 2012, ages 23 to 40.  Jones was MVP in 1999 when he hit a career high 45 home runs.  Jones was one of the greatest switch hitters in baseball history.  Jones led the league:
2007 (age 35) OPS, OPS+
2008 (age 36) BA OBP.

Twelve years Jones played in the tournament.  In 417 plate appearances:
BA .287
OBP .409
SLG .456
OPS .864

Regular season 10,614 plate appearances (rank among all batters):
BA .303 (160)
OBP .401 (54)
SLG .529 (47)
OPS .930; (35)
OPS+ 141 (71)

WAR (Wins Above Replacement) Position Players:
Jones 85 (31)
Jeter 71.8 (58)

Maybe if Chipper Jones had been a Yankee
April, 25 2013  by Funspoilertornoto (Own work)
via Wikimedia Commons
Jones retired one year before the back to back farewell tours for Yankees Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.  Maybe no one thought about it.  Maybe Jones didn't want it.  Maybe he got a mini version that we don't even recall.

I'm a Yankee fan but half way through Rivera's 2013 farewell tour I thought it was way overblown and inappropriate.  Fraternization on the field between opposing players is prohibited but commissioner Selig neglected to suspend anyone 211 games.

I had hoped that this would not be repeated but Jeter announced his retirement before the 2014 regular season and allowed the Yankees and opposing teams to exceed the silliness of what was done for Rivera.  I'm guessing that some players are resentful, including teammates, but so far none have had the nerve to speak up.  That copyrighted Jeter patch that all Yankee players have been wearing and, which generates money exclusively for Jeter, is probably especially annoying.

Unfortunately, things only seem to get worse.  Yankee haters probably cannot wait for a non-Yankee to get a farewell tour.  But with Jones gone, who would qualify?  It would be best if he played his entire career for only one team as was the case for Jones, Rivera and Jeter.  Ironically, one candidate is Met third baseman David Wright.  How would Yankee fans react to that?

Kill the farewell tour, a combination one man old timers day and shotgun wedding.  Monday, February 17, 2014

1 comment:

Unknown said...

David Ortiz wth the Red Sox would be my pick 15 yrs with Sox 3 World Series but he and the Sox have class so doubt it would happen. I am a Sox fan but loved Chipper Jones