I am now old enough to have watched a baseball player from his rookie year to the Hall of Fame.
Professional baseball players are supposed to be older than me.
I still think that when I watch the game. But I know reality is different.
I watched Chipper Jones from his rookie year to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Chipper as baby-faced minor league player in 1991.
Chipper now. Source
I don’t write a lot about sports. Mostly because I don’t follow it as much in middle-age as I did when I was younger. Other priorities get in the way. Family, a business, movies. But I do enjoy them.
From the age of 12 to the age of 18 I collected baseball cards.
I tried to play little league baseball from 12-14. But 12 is much too old to being the game and it showed. I was terrible. But I love watching the game. It’s the only major sport that doesn’t revolve around a clock. It’s the only sport where once a player is taken out of the game they can’t come back into the game. The starting pitcher is different everyday. Imagine a different starting quarterback every game. When football teams do that, they lose.
I was born in Georgia, but grew up in Virginia. The Atlanta Braves was the team I followed, and still do. I followed them since their difficult years in the 1980s when they lost way more games than they won. But things changed at the beginning of college, after years of losing they began to collect talent.
Chipper Jones was the bedrock of that talent. I have several of his rookie cards. I was a fan from the beginning. He was the bedrock of a team that went on a tear of 14 straight division championships.
He was the rare switch-hitting power hitter. In the same league as Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray. Watching him hit clutch home runs was when needed induced joyous celebrations more than once.
Watching Chipper Jones enter the Hall of Fame was bittersweet. He deserved it. But it also meant a section of my life was clearly over. A player I followed was now permanently enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His career no longer in front of him, but behind.
Then I am reminded and thankful for the joy of watching grown men play a game meant for children on the green grass of summer.
Thank you, Chipper.
It's a shame today's kids are technology-obsessed. Trading baseball cards with friends, playing sports, and hanging out at the park was pretty much my whole childhood.
@mctiller...... We can know,,,,the great knowledge about chipper....... And also about you,,,,actually our life is so challenging ...one day every body geting old,,,,Its naturally true
Chipper is in his 16th season all with the Atlanta Braves. He has one MVP award, one batting title and batted .300+ 10 times, hit 30+ HR six times, and drove in 100+ runs nine times.