Chipper heads a robust class
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Larry Wayne Jones Jr. was a throwback, a guy who played for only one major league club and always stayed focused on a single goal — trying to get better every day.
Pressure was an afterthought for the man dubbed Chipper, except perhaps in 1990 at the beginning of his career with the Atlanta Braves organization.
“Maybe my first year in rookie ball there was some pressure. Obviously, I didn’t perform,” said Jones, who batted just .229 with one home run and 18 RBI in 140 at-bats in the Gulf Coast League while dealing with a hand injury. “There was some push back for the Braves taking me.”
Any doubts about the switch-hitting overall No. 1 pick of the 1990 draft from the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., quickly faded. In Class A ball the next season, Jones batted .326, hit 15 home runs, drove in 98 runs and stole 40 bases. Four years later, he was a regular in the Atlanta lineup at age 23 and relishing the journey.
“For me, it was just having fun and playing the game,” said Jones, whose nickname surfaced at a young age after family members called him a chip off the old block because he looked so much like his dad. “I never saw a pay stub during my time in the big leagues. I didn’t care what I was making. As long as I walked in the clubhouse and I saw my name in the three hole playing third for the Atlanta Braves, that’s all that really mattered.”
His numbers — .303 career batting average, 549 doubles, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBI — earned Jones baseball’s highest honor, election to the Hall of Fame on the first try. He’ll be inducted Sunday with Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, and former Detroit Tigers teammates Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. Thome also is a first-ballot selection, while Morris and Trammell were picked by a veterans committee in December.
Jones, only the second overall No. 1 draft pick to reach the hall (Ken Griffey Jr. is the other), couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the Braves, who were perennial cellar dwellers in the NL West. He became a force on most of the Atlanta teams that did a quick about-face and won 14 division titles in a row — and a World Series in his rookie season (1995).
Thome hit 612 home runs, eighth all-time, and had an MLB record 13 walk-off home runs, mostly for the Cleveland Indians. When he toured the Hall of Fame in late February to prepare for induction day, Thome got misty when he walked into the Plaque Gallery where his bronze likeness will hang after Sunday’s ceremony.
“It’s been an absolute dream,” Thome said. “I try to keep that [life] pretty simple, but it’s been very special to enjoy this with the ones you really care about and the people that are … happy for you. That means so much.
“To go there and now call that home is just incredible.”
Hoffman, chosen in his third year on the ballot, played the bulk of his career with the San Diego Padres before finishing with the Milwaukee Brewers. After failing to impress the front office in three years as a shortstop, he switched to the bullpen and became a star. Using a stultifying changeup, Hoffman recorded 601 saves over 18 seasons, second all-time to former Yankees star Mariano Rivera’s 652.
Guerrero was elected on his second try, receiving 92.9 percent of the vote. The ninetime All-Star outfielder batted .318 with 449 home runs and 1,496 RBI and was a notorious bad-ball hitter — a skill he learned as a kid growing up in the Dominican Republic playing a game similar to cricket.
Although he played half his career with the Montreal Expos, Guerrero will be the first player to enter the Hall wearing the cap of the Los Angeles Angels, the team where he enjoyed his greatest success. He helped lead the Angels to the postseason five times in six seasons, reaching career highs for runs (124), hits (206), and RBI (126) in 2004 when he won AL MVP honors.
“I was happy to be in a situation where the team was playing for something,” Guerrero said through translator Jose Mota. “That inspired me and the rest of the team.”
Morris pitched 18 seasons for the Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays and Indians, and played on four World Series champions. In the 1980s, he led all pitchers with 2,4442/3 innings pitched and 162 wins, and he topped all AL pitchers in strikeouts with 1,629.
The crowning achievement of Morris’ career was his 1-0 complete-game victory in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series while pitching for his hometown Twins against 24-year-old John Smoltz and the Braves. Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly wanted to take him out after nine innings, but the 36-year-old Morris convinced him not to.
“That was Jack Morris,” Trammell said. “That just tells you what’s inside of him. He wasn’t going to give up anything.”
That Morris had to wait so long to be picked for the Hall of Fame promises to make his speech memorable.
“I’ve had a long time to think about writing one,” he said. “I wanted this to be an impactful speech. I wanted it to be something that had meaning. When I started actually putting it into words, it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.
“If I was going to do it justice, I’d probably have to write a 1,500-page book, but we don’t have time for all of that.”
Trammell played shortstop for 20 seasons — all for the Tigers — and earned six All-Star Game selections, four Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers. His .977 fielding percentage ranks sixth among shortstops with at least 2,000 games played.
“It’s overwhelming, to be honest with you,” said Trammell, now 60. “To say that you’re part of that group, it’s hard to comprehend.”
This year’s class matches the biggest lineup of living players to be inducted since 1955, when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons, Dazzy Vance, Home Run Baker and Ray Schalk were enshrined. That means the inductees won’t have much leeway in the length of their speeches.
It’s difficult to imagine what a nerve-wracking scenario it promises to be for Jones — his wife is pregnant with a son whose name will be Cooper in honor of the special day.
Talk about pressure. “It’s going to be a pretty nervous time for me personally,” Jones said. “The fact that my wife is due the day after, I’ll be looking down at her making sure she’s giving me the thumbs-up, making sure she’s not going into labor while I’m up on stage.
“If it does happen, it’s going to be an exciting time.”