Chipper Jones will play the final regular season home stand of his illustrious career this week at Turner Field. The Braves still have their eyes on one final run in October, but as Chipper's ceremony nears on Friday night, it seemed like a good time to begin reflecting on old No. 10's career.
In the first installment of 'My Favorite Chipper Jones Things', we take a look at his historic triple-slash batting line.
With nine games remaining in his career, Jones is batting .304/.401/.530. Unless he completely falls off a cliff this next week -- and I mean he'd basically have to go hitless without reaching base more than a handful of times -- Chipper will retire with a triple-slash line upwards of .300/.400/.500.
That line is pretty historic in baseball history. Having a career .300 batting average is incredible enough, but to continually hit at that level while drawing walks and hitting for power is the true definition of a Hall of Fame hitter.
To give you a comparison of a modern-day player, Alex Rodriguez has a career line of .300/.384/.551 and is yet to hit the steep decline that is inevitable as he ages. Derek Jeter is at .313/.382/.448.
Mike Schmidt, who many believe is one of the best third basemen of all time, has a career line of .267/.380/.527. Dale Murphy hit .265/.346/.469.
Baseball's home run king, Hank Aaron, batted .305/.374/.555 throughout his incredible career.
This is not to say any of these players are better or worse than Jones is or was. They all had fine careers, and they'll be remembered for the many special things they accomplished over the years. But just the fact that none of these all-time greats could achieve the 3/4/5 line is a testament to just how great our third baseman is.
We're going to miss you, Chipper.
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Stick with SB Nation Atlanta throughout the week for more of our 'My Favorite Chipper Jones Things' series.
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