1995 Topps All-Star Rookie Third Baseman Chipper Jones

Chipper Jones was an obvious choice for the 1995 Topps All-Star Rookie team. The runner-up for the 1995 Rookie of the Year, Jones led all rookies in games played, runs scored, and Runs batted in. He had 48 extra base hits and swiped 8 bases while playing as the everyday third baseman on the World Series winning Atlanta Braves.

Jones tore his ACL in spring training 1994, delaying his rookie season by a year. He was hoping to compete that season for the left field job, vacated by an injury to Ron Gant in the off-season. Following the year away he embarked on a long and otherwise healthy career as one of the most prolific third basemen in MLB history.

Jones was the #1 overall pick in the 1990 MLB draft, selected in part because pitching phenom Todd Van Poppel was reported to be unwilling to sign in Atlanta. Jones may have been the 2nd choice, but he turned out to be the right one. He was a Short Stop and a pitcher in high school, hitting .483 as a senior and pitching a sub 1.00 ERA with 100 strikeouts to just 25 walks allowed.

Once in the Braves' minor league system, Jones found a home at the hot corner. Despite gaudy numbers in Single A Macon at the plate, he struggled as a short stop, making 56 errors. He would find a home at the hot corner, and made steady progress towards the big leagues. He would make his MLB debut in 1993, the 2nd youngest player in the league that season.

Following his 1995 season, Jones would quickly become a middle of the lineup threat and team leader. He would appear in the playoffs every year from 1995 until 2005. He would make the All-Star team 5 out of 6 years from 1996 to 2001. The one exception in that span? 1999.

In 1999, Chipper Jones was the NL MVP, and he didn't make the All-Star team. The squad had Matt Williams starting at third, and Padre Phil Nevin and Pirate Ed Sprague as the reserves. Jones did take home his first Silver Slugger award that year, after hitting 41 doubles, 45 homers and slashing .319/.441/.633. His OPS+ was a filthy 169. He led the NL in runs created with 165.

Over the course of his career, Jones would make 8 All-Star teams, win 2 Silver Slugger awards, and add a batting title in 2008 for good measure. He also led the NL with a .470 OBP that year. He is the all-time MLB leader in RBI among 3rd basemen, and leads the Braves franchise in career OBP. He's only the 2nd switch hitter in MLB history (Mickey Mantle is the other) with a career OBP over .400, slugging over .500, and more than 400 homers. He finished his career hitting better than .300 from both sides of the plate.

The Braves retired his number in 2013, and he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Let's hear your Chipper Jones stories!

Congrats to the Cooperstown Class of 2018

The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum held their annual induction ceremony today and inducted 6 players. Jim Thome was a long time rival, and a short term hero for Twins fans. His 612 career home runs rank 8th All-Time, and he had 17 more in Postseason play. His 1,699 Runs batted in ranks just ahead of Cal Ripken and just behind Reggie Jackson. His tape measure homers and gee whiz personality drew comparisons to Twins' legend Harmon Killebrew, which Thome would certainly say was special! He had the most Walk-Off home runs in MLB history.

Jack Morris had the most wins by a pitcher during the 1980s, and played on World Series Championship Teams in 1984, 1991, 1992, and 1993. The 5-time All-Star was best known for pitching a 10-inning Complete Game Shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, winning the Series for the Twins over the Atlanta Braves.

Chipper Jones was a Superstar beginning with his first full season in 1995. He was the NL MVP in 1999, and an 8-time All-Star. In his first decade with Atlanta, Chipper made the playoffs every season. He had 97 post-season hits in his career to go along with 2,726 in the regular season, which is 5th all-time among 3rd Basemen. The 1995 World Series Champion is also 3rd all time in Homers hit by a 3rd Baseman.

The 1984 WS MVP spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. The 4X Gold Glove winner is one of the best fielding Short Stops of all time, and also was a prolific power hitter for a position that had traditionally not produced many big boppers. He, along with Cal Ripken, redefined what should be expected of the middle infielder. He's one of just three Tigers to play 20 Seasons for the team.

Trevor Hoffman is known for being the other guy with 600 career saves. He was very efficient getting to those saves, converting 89% of his opportunities throughout his career. He led the league in Saves twice - his 53 saves in 1998 helped lead the San Diego Padres to the post season. He converted 3 more saves in the NLDS and NLCS, taking the team to the World Series for the second time in franchise history. While the World Series didn't go the Padres way that year, much of their success can be traced to Hoffman's arm.

Perhaps the greatest bad-ball hitter of all time, Vladimir Guerrero heads to the Hall representing the Montreal Expos, likely the last member of the original franchise to be inducted. His 449 Homers are the most by any player from the Dominican Republic. He was known for his tremendous throwing arm as well, and registered double digit assists in 7 of his first 8 seasons. The 2004 AL MVP only appeared in one World Series, in 2010 with the Texas Rangers. Before injuries limited his mobility, he was a true 5-tool player. In 2002 with Montreal he had 39 homers and 40 stolen bases, and amassed 181 steals in his career.

Congrats to all the new inductees!

Day Sixteen - 1996 Flair Chipper Jones #200

Day 16: A Card of a Player Whom you Appreciate (But Don't Like)

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the sixteenth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - As a Twins fan in the 80s and early 90s, there were few National League teams that crossed paths with Minnesota. Saint Louis and Atlanta were the only visitors when I was a kid, not counting the 1985 All-Star Game, which I can't remember. Chipper Jones wasn't playing for the Braves in 1991 - he had just been drafted the summer before and was making his way through the minor leagues. This topic was somewhat tough for me. If I don't like a player, I generally don't appreciate them, either. I had a little leftover animosity for the Braves in general after the '91 Series, so that resulted in me not liking anyone that played for the Braves very much. That's how I felt about Chipper, even though he's arguably one of the best hitting 3rd basemen of all time.

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the backs, too? If not for the magnificent debut season of Hideo Nomo, Chipper might have been Rookie of the Year in the National League, but he got over it quickly enough by winning the league MVP award in 1999.

Some Honorable mentions:

I would say that there two kinds of players that could have been on my list for this post - players I actually do like, but play for teams I can't root for; and players that play for teams I don't like at all, and the player doesn't really endear himself to opposing fans either... but I might be willing to pretend that I have respect for them.

Paul Konerko and Mariano Rivera are among my favorite players despite the teams they played for. There are a handful of players that are/were White Sox or Yankees that transcend the team they play for.

I would list my least favorite teams as The White Sox, The Yankees, Cleveland, Oakland, and the Braves.
Nick Swisher played for ALL of those teams. David Justice played for the Braves in '91, the Yankees and Cleveland and Oakland at the end of his career when the Twins were trying to make another playoff run.

I'm sure that Justice and Swisher are perfectly decent human beings -- I just couldn't stand them when they were playing in the majors. It's funny how you can easily defend a player that's on your team, even if everyone else seems to dislike them (See Kent Hrbek, AJ Pierzynski, or Chuck Knobluach for example).