SERBY’S SPECIAL Q&A WITH ... Chipper JONES
Current ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who was a Mets villain for years, discusses with Post columnist Steve Serby how MLB will tackle the pandemic and gives his insights on the New York teams and stars ahead of the season starting Thursday.
Q: How would you have handled all the adjustments players are having to make this season?
A: You do what you gotta do. This is some circumstances none of us ever thought we would have to live through. If I were still playing, obviously there would be a decision to be made as to whether I would play or not. I’ve got seven children here at the house, I’ve got 70-year-old parents that live on property here . ... Mom’s healthy as a horse, but Dad struggles every so often with his health, so we would have had a family huddle to see if it was worth it going out there. I have it in my mind that we would probably all decide that I should go play, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that nobody knows what it’s like to walk in anyone else’s shoes, and that’s a decision they have to make. There’s an opt-out every so often, but not as many as I thought there would be . ... Broadcasting a game for ESPN [Sunday night] in Chicago, at points it was eerie. There’s no fans, there’s no real energy per se, so it’s going to be a challenge for these players to get themselves in the same state of mind they would be if there were 40 or 50,000 people in the stands.
Q: Could you have survived without sunflower seeds?
A: No, I don’t think so. Unfortunately, I was a dipper. I can’t remember an at-bat in my career where I didn’t have a dip, sunflower seeds or chewing gum in my mouth. One of those three things was just like putting on your uniform, or taking your glove out in the field, you had to have it in order to feel good.
Q: What are your thoughts on Pete Alonso?
A: He had one of the greatest years I’ve ever seen. It seemed like he hit a home run every single game. The thing about him is that the bright lights and the pressure of playing in New York doesn’t seem to bother him. The kid’s always got a smile on his face, and always talking it up and yukking it up and just a pleasure to watch.
... Watching him in the Home Run Derby last year — how many good things can happen (chuckle) to one person in one year? I know Braves people, Braves fans cringe every time he comes up. When it came to hitting the ball out of the ballpark, nobody was more efficient as doing it as good as he did.
Q: One game to win: Jacob deGrom or Gerrit Cole?
A: Yeah, that’s a good one. My dad and my godfather both coached at Stetson University, so I’m gonna go with the hometown kid, the Mad Hatter, Jacob deGrom. I gotta stay loyal to my roots.
Q: Do you think Jeff McNeil or someone can hit .400 this season?
A: I certainly think it’s possible, and I think somebody ... they might not hit .400, but I think we’ll be talking about it about the
40, 45, maybe even 50-game point during the course of the season. There’s just too many good hitters out there now, whether it’s somebody like a [Christian] Yelich, who’s coming off an injury and champing at the bit to get back, former MVP. Not only do I think he can hit close to .400, I think he can probably hit 20, 20-plus homers in 60 games as well, which would make anybody a shoo-in for an MVP trophy this year. [Cody] Bellinger, obviously McNeil, guys that are gonna go out and get a ton of at-bats in 60 games, hitting at the top of the lineup but are tough, tough outs.
Q: Do you think the Astros dodged a bullet because of no fans in the stands in the wake of the sign- stealing scandal?
A: Oh, I don’t think there’s anybody more happy that there are no fans in the stands this year than the Houston Astros. (Laugh) I know if I was playing for ’em I’d be happy. That’s just one less distraction you have to worry about. I’m sure they got a little taste of it in spring training before the stoppage. It sounds to me just hearing through the grapevine that it was pretty bad. So imagine what it would be like with 40 or 50,000 people in the stands as opposed to 5 or 6,000 people in spring training.
Q: Describe your on-field mentality.
A: My on-field mentality was that I was the best player on the field. I got that from my mom early on in life, when she says that I was going through some kind of confidence problem . ... I had to play with that kind of mentality, or else I wouldn’t have been successful.
Q: Why did Mets fans hate the young Chipper Jones?
A: Because I was brash and cocky and lippy, and wasn’t afraid to spout off . ... The Mets were two games out of the wild card with two games left, and Cincinnati was ahead of them. We had just got done beating them in the last game of our series, and I was walking off the field, and I saw a guy over top of our dugout that had a New York jersey split down the middle — one side Mets, one side Yankees — he had a double-billed cap — one Mets, one Yankees. I had always heard that you had to pick one side or the other, it was faux pas to root for both teams. So confident that the Mets weren’t gonna make the playoffs at that point, a reporter asked me what I thought of the Mets’ chances, and I said, “Ah, I think all those Mets fans can go home and put their Yankee stuff on now.” Oh my goodness, did I take some slack for that! It was not received well. Lo and behold, the Cincinnati Reds lose two games, the Mets win two games, the Mets then go to Cincinnati for a one-game playoff and beat ’em, and now (laugh) the stage is set for that epic 1999 NLCS that ended with Kenny Rogers walking Andruw Jones to send us to the World Series. Yeah, I learned a valuable lesson right there, that’s where the “Larry” chants started, and from then on, whenever I touched down at LaGuardia Airport, I was on my best behavior (laugh).
Q: Describe David Cone in Game 3 of the 1996 World Series.
A: He really turned the tide in that series. Obviously that ... slider was something that you had to look out for, but he was kind of on the downside of his career and you were really starting to see him do things differently in order to be successful. A changeup was a big part of his repertoire. He would throw the off-speed to set up the fastball. After us going up there [Yankee Stadium] and pretty much manhandling them in the first two games, his performance in Game 3 got them back in the Series . ... I didn’t think we were gonna lose again. The second you start thinking that, that’s when baseball reaches up and punches you in the gut and says, “Uh-uh.” There’s a lot of failure in this game, and it’s waiting around the corner. Unfortunately for us, that was David Cone and the New York Yankees.
Q: What do you hope your legacy is?
A: That people say, “That guy was a ballplayer.” I think the title of my book [“Ballplayer”] says it all. I want to be known as a winner, a guy that went out and did his job, was one-ninth of the equation to help us win every single day. I want to be a good husband, a good father, a good son. Having made a ton of mistakes early on in my life, I hope people can look at me now and say that a guy really turned the corner and he made adjustments in life the same way he did on the baseball field and he’s a better man because of it.