Whenever baseball fans think of the Atlanta Braves, Hank Aaron automatically comes to mind. The second name that comes to mind is Chipper Jones.
Jones, the 1999 National League MVP and seven-time all star, has been the face of the Braves organization (behind Aaron) since he was drafted by the Braves in 1990 and will end his career as a Brave at the end of the 2012 season.
On Thursday, Jones announced that he will retire at the end of the season.
“I have fulfilled everything,” Jones said. “There’s nothing left for me to do.”
Unfortunately, Jones will miss the beginning of his final season because of an upcoming arthroscopic surgery to repair torn meniscus in his left knee.
The procedure will be performed Monday. The 39-year-old Jones will open the season on the disabled list, but the team expects him to miss only the first six games. General manager Frank Wren said Jones should return in time for the April 13 home opener.
Jones missed about 2 1/2 weeks last season after having arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee. This and many other injuries is probably one of the reason why Jones finally decided to hang it up after contemplating retirement the past two years.
As a Braves fan, its sad to know that this will be Chipper’s final year. Although I saw it coming, it’ll be weird not seeing him in the line up in 2013. Jones will be remembered as one of the best hitters in the game. His career batting average is .304 and he has 454 home runs and 1,561 RBIs.
Not only will the Braves lose a great player, but a great leader as well.
It’s not everyday that you get see a future Hall-of-Famer in live action, so I’ll definitely catch a game this summer.