Chipper carves path from small town to Hall

 

COOPERSTOWN, NY -- Along with being somewhat of a baseball savant, Chipper Jones is a romantic who wants to believe the old wives tale that the plaques speak to each other whenever they turn off the lights at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Now that he's officially a Hall of Famer, the immortalized version of Jones may soon have some of those "lights out" conversations with many former Braves teammates, one of his child favorites Eddie Murray and his father's idol Mickey Mantle, whose spirit was felt as Cooperstown celebrated the arrival of yet another legendary switch-hitter.

"I know if my plaque is going to speak he shouldn't," Jones said. "We're the rookie in the locker room now. It's time to be quiet and speak when spoken to. If Mickey and Eddie get into it, I'll throw my two cents in there."

Speaking as cool and smooth as he had throughout his storied playing career, Jones entertained the Braves-heavy crowd that assembled as he was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame on Sunday afternoon. His speech was filled with heartfelt emotion and gratitude aimed toward the countless individuals who paved the way for him to share a stage with baseball's elite.

"It's a big relief now," Jones said. "It was pretty awe-inspiring to look out and see 40 or 50 thousand people. I've spoken in front of that many people before. But I was more nervous about who was behind me [fellow Hall of Famers] critiquing the speech."

Attempting to fend off any tears, Jones resolutely avoided making eye contact with his mother Lynn and father Larry Wayne Jones Sr. His nerves were enhanced that the crowd included his pregnant wife, Taylor, who is less than 24 hours from being due to deliver their latest son -- Cooper, who will be appropriately named in relation to this Hall of Fame celebration.

"[Taylor] changed my life forever," Jones said. "It took 40 years and some major imperfections in me to find my true perfection. We've taken our two families, blended them together, and it's given me what I've been searching for my entire life. The last six years have been the best of my entire life. Tay, you made me believe in love again and changed me forever."

Since the time he was an 18-year-old shortstop taken with the first overall selection in the 1990 Draft, Jones has stood as one of the most revered and beloved figures in the Braves organization. Atlanta fans flocked to Cooperstown to see John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz get inducted to the Hall of Fame within the past four years. But this seemed to be Braves Country's top showing in Cooperstown.

"You're why I loved coming to the plate with the game on the line, Crazy Train blaring in the background," Jones said to Braves fans. "I wanted to so badly to come through for you. You believed in me since I was an 18-year-old kid, and you were still there for me during my swan song in 2012. You cheered me through the career highs and stuck by me through life's lows. I'll never forget that. You're the reason I never wanted to play anywhere else. I couldn't be prouder to go into the Hall of Fame today with an Atlanta A on my cap."

Jones thanked his parents by describing him as the greatest support team he could have ever wanted. They created the young man who Cox helped further mold as he drafted, managed and mentored this legendary figure over two decades.

While Cox might have been the most influential force throughout Jones' career, the former third baseman did not forget to mention the impact made by late Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, who demanded the use of a heavier bat after Jones struggled during his first professional season.

"[Stargell] said, 'Son, I've picked my teeth with bigger pieces of wood than this.'" Jones said. "He also suggested I swing the biggest bat I could get around against 90-mph pitches and start letting the pitcher supply the power. He looked me dead in the eye and said: 'We'll have you hitting 30 homers in no time.' I thought he was crazy, but I'll be damned if he wasn't right.'"

Jones' first 30-homer season occurred in 1996, a year after he became a mainstay in Atlanta's lineup. But his power truly blossomed after he was introduced to the late Don Baylor, who served as the Braves hitting coach during the switch-hitter's 1999 MVP season. Baylor's mission before that season was to convince Jones he needed to be more aggressive with his attempt to produce more power from the right side. The result, a career-high 45 homers by the end of that year.

"I miss you buddy," Jones said of Baylor. "Not a day goes by that I don't miss our rigorous cage sessions."

Jones shared the stage with former teammates Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. Each of these players have expressed hope they will one day be joined by Fred McGriff and Andruw Jones, who along with Jeff Francoeur were among those who traveled to Cooperstown to enjoy this weekend and celebrate what was the greatest era in Braves history.

"For me, it all started in a little town of Pierson, Fla.," Jones said. "I was just a country kid from a town with two caution lights. The self-proclaimed, fern capital of the world. How do I, of all people, end up on a stage with my childhood heroes, the greatest players in baseball history? For me, it came down to being focused on a goal, never losing sight of that goal, and being surrounded by people who believed in me. That belief started at home."

Mark Bowman has covered the Braves for MLB.com since 2001.

Chipper a wise choice for Braves in 1990 Draft

 

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Many baseball fans may know Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr. are the only Hall of Famers who were taken with the first pick in the MLB Draft. But few may realize the Braves didn't even have a scouting report on Jones a few months before taking a chance on the man who now stands as one of the most influential and revered players in franchise history.

"I think we did the right thing," Braves scouting legend Paul Snyder said. "It's certainly easy to say that as we sit here right now at the Hall of Fame."

When Jones is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame during this afternoon's ceremonies (coverage begins on MLB.com and MLB Network starting at 11 a.m. ET), he'll take time to thank his parents, Snyder, Bobby Cox and the many others who guided him toward immortality in the game.

But serving as further proof of the anonymity of the scouting world, he will not mention Hep Cronin, the longtime scout who might be best recognized as the father of University of Cincinnati's men's basketball coach Mick Cronin.

As the Braves prepared for the 1990 Draft, with Cox serving as the general manager and Snyder as the scouting director, Todd Van Poppel appeared to be the best available prospect. Jones was not even on Atlanta's radar until February, when Cronin opted to drive to Jacksonville, Fla., simply because a fellow scout he regarded as wise said he planned to spend the next day watching a young shortstop from The Bolles School.

Cronin's initial report led to a visit from Snyder, who then prompted Cox and many of the organization's top evaluators to come see this switch-hitting shortstop who had previously eluded their attention.

"The Braves were close to the vest," Jones said. "I never had a meeting with the Atlanta Braves. I heard rumblings they were at some games, but I never met Paul Snyder. I never met Bobby Cox. I never saw Jimy Williams. I know he came and saw me play. They even said Hank Aaron came to watch me play. It wasn't until two nights before the Draft that I got the famous phone call."

Long before the famous call was the savvy scouting evaluation Snyder made while sitting in a car parked near a field at the Tigers' Spring Training complex in Lakeland, Fla.

The Braves heard the Tigers had invited Jones for a workout and wanted to take advantage of the chance to see or, in this case, hear, what he could do with a wood bat. So, an undetected Snyder put himself within ear shot and was introduced to the melodious sounds produced by the swing of the kid who would become one of the best switch-hitters in baseball history.

"They say if you can't see, you can scout if you can hear," Snyder said. "We sat in the car and listened for the wood bat to ring. There were a lot of things that had to happen quickly that year -- because we didn't have a lot of advanced scouting reports on him from his early years."

After Jones impressed enough to quickly establish himself as a potential top overall pick, he enhanced the difficulty of the Braves' decision when he broke his right hand after he punched a teammate who was jealous of the extra attention Jones was receiving.

But thoughts of selecting Van Poppel continued to evaporate, when he and his parents made it clear they didn't want to talk to the Braves. They stood Snyder up twice and did not show up for a scheduled meeting with Cox two days before the Draft.

When Cox reacted by immediately telling Snyder to focus on Jones, a call was placed to Larry Wayne Jones Sr., who had to make approximately five different calls before reaching his son to tell him he needed to immediately leave his senior prom to return home for a conversation with the Braves.

"There was one [furious] lady," Jones said. "But I dropped everything and left. Up until that point, that was going to be the most important thing that happened to me."

Jones made his Major League debut in 1993, returned from the first of two torn left anterior cruciate ligaments to begin his reign as Atlanta's third baseman in '95 and then proudly retired as a Brave at the conclusion of the 2012 season. His final two seasons were the only ones he spent without his big league manager being Cox, a fellow Hall of Famer who will be seated behind Jones during Sunday's induction speech.

"I hope I don't see him shed a tear, because I will lose it if Bobby does," Jones said. "He's the man. He's the guy who drafted me. I spent 23 years in this organization trying to make him proud and trying to make him look good. He went out on a limb and drafted me with the first pick over Todd Van Poppel. It might not have been the popular pick at the time. But I spent the past two decades trying to make him look good."

Mark Bowman has covered the Braves for MLB.com since 2001.