Larry Wayne Jones, a.k.a. Chipper Jones, is 35 years old now. He’ll turn 36 in April 2008. It seems just like yesterday when the golden boy with the eat you know what grin and the cocky swagger was first called up to the major leagues. However, he ain’t a kid anymore. The end is coming for the former golden boy and Chipper knows it. Chipper is now like a President in his last term consumed with the legacy he leaves behind. Instead of being consumed with the arrangements for his presidential library, Chipper is now consumed with the arrangements for his induction into the great museum up in Cooperstown, New York.
Rob Neyer and Peter Gammons have each recently stated they think Chipper is a Hall of Famer if he retires right now. Chipper disagrees and has said that if he retired right now he would be on the cusp and probably would not make it. He says he needs five more good years before he retires at 40 years old to make the best case possible for his future Hall of Fame induction. That may very well be true for the man who has not made an All Star team since 2001. However, Chipper is baseball royalty and deserves to be treated as such during the twilight of his career. He has been mostly forgotten during this decade because of threats posed to his third base throne by pretenders like Eric Chavez, Scott Rolen, Hank Blalock, Aramis Ramirez, and Troy Glaus. David Wright is the golden boy du jour in the National League and is just the latest and perhaps the greatest of the pretenders to Chipper’s throne. At this stage of his career, however, Chipper Jones is too busy chasing down immortals like Schmidt, Mathews, Brett, Boggs, Mantle, Rose, Murray, and Raines to bother looking back to see if a mere mortal like David Wright is nipping at his heels.
You see, Chipper Jones is now at the point of his career where he should be universally considered one of the five best switch hitters and five best third baseman of all time. If you doubt that, check out the tables I have provided below with my rankings of the best third baseman and best switch hitters of all time:
ALL TIME THIRD BASE RANKINGS:
|
|
OPS+ |
ABS |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
|
Mike Schmidt |
147 |
8352 |
1506 |
2234 |
548 |
1595 |
174 |
0.267 |
0.380 |
0.527 |
|
Eddie Mathews |
143 |
8537 |
1509 |
2315 |
512 |
1453 |
68 |
0.271 |
0.376 |
0.509 |
|
George Brett |
135 |
10349 |
1583 |
3154 |
317 |
1595 |
201 |
0.305 |
0.369 |
0.487 |
|
Wade Boggs |
130 |
9180 |
1513 |
3010 |
118 |
1014 |
24 |
0.328 |
0.415 |
0.443 |
|
Chipper Jones |
143 |
6898 |
1296 |
2117 |
386 |
1299 |
134 |
0.307 |
0.403 |
0.546 |
|
Home Run Baker |
135 |
5984 |
887 |
1838 |
96 |
987 |
235 |
0.307 |
0.363 |
0.442 |
|
Ron Santo |
125 |
8143 |
1138 |
2254 |
342 |
1331 |
35 |
0.277 |
0.362 |
0.464 |
|
Brooks Robinson |
104 |
10654 |
1232 |
2848 |
268 |
1357 |
28 |
0.267 |
0.322 |
0.401 |
|
Jimmy Collins |
113 |
6795 |
1055 |
1999 |
65 |
983 |
194 |
0.294 |
0.343 |
0.409 |
|
George Kell |
111 |
6702 |
881 |
2054 |
78 |
870 |
51 |
0.306 |
0.367 |
0.414 |
|
Pie Traynor |
107 |
7559 |
1183 |
2416 |
58 |
1273 |
158 |
0.320 |
0.362 |
0.435 |
ALL TIME SWITCH HITTER RANKINGS
|
|
OPS+ |
ABS |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
|
Mickey Mantle |
172 |
8102 |
1677 |
2415 |
536 |
1509 |
153 |
0.298 |
0.421 |
0.557 |
|
Pete Rose |
118 |
14053 |
2165 |
4256 |
160 |
1314 |
198 |
0.303 |
0.375 |
0.409 |
|
Eddie Murray |
129 |
11336 |
1627 |
3255 |
504 |
1917 |
110 |
0.287 |
0.359 |
0.476 |
|
Tim Raines |
123 |
8872 |
1571 |
2605 |
170 |
980 |
808 |
0.294 |
0.385 |
0.425 |
|
Chipper Jones |
143 |
6898 |
1296 |
2117 |
386 |
1299 |
134 |
0.307 |
0.403 |
0.546 |
|
Roberto Alomar |
116 |
9073 |
1508 |
2724 |
210 |
1134 |
474 |
0.300 |
0.374 |
0.443 |
|
Reggie Smith |
137 |
7033 |
1123 |
2020 |
314 |
1092 |
137 |
0.287 |
0.366 |
0.489 |
|
George Davis |
121 |
9031 |
1539 |
2660 |
73 |
1437 |
616 |
0.295 |
0.361 |
0.405 |
|
Bernie Williams |
125 |
7869 |
1366 |
2336 |
287 |
1257 |
147 |
0.297 |
0.381 |
0.477 |
|
Frankie Frisch |
111 |
9112 |
1532 |
2880 |
105 |
1244 |
419 |
0.316 |
0.369 |
0.432 |
|
Ken Singleton |
132 |
7189 |
985 |
2029 |
246 |
1065 |
21 |
0.282 |
0.388 |
0.436 |
|
Roy White |
121 |
6650 |
964 |
1803 |
160 |
758 |
233 |
0.271 |
0.360 |
0.404 |
|
Ted Simmons |
117 |
8680 |
1074 |
2472 |
248 |
1389 |
21 |
0.285 |
0.348 |
0.437 |
|
Bobby Bonilla |
124 |
7213 |
1084 |
2010 |
287 |
1173 |
45 |
0.279 |
0.358 |
0.472 |
|
Chili Davis |
120 |
8673 |
1240 |
2380 |
350 |
1372 |
142 |
0.274 |
0.360 |
0.451 |
Hopefully, during the last five years of his career, Chipper can give the baseball world one last glorious run at a batting title like Brett in 1990, or one last great MVP season like Schmidt in 1986, or one last World Series title that ends with Chipper riding a horse like Boggs in 1996.
