There’s been much speculation all year long that this could be future Hall of Famer and Atlanta Braves aging third baseman Chipper Jones’ final year. However, last week Jones came out and told the media that he’s definitely going to be playing baseball in a Braves uniform in 2012. I’m thrilled that Chipper Jones is going to come back for what will likely be his final season in 2012 for more reasons than just that he’s my favorite ballplayer on my favorite team.
You see I hope Chipper Jones plays baseball for as long as he possibly can, because my youth will officially end the day that Hall of Famer retires. That may sound strange, but it all makes sense when you realize that Chipper Jones’ career and my love of baseball started the same season back in the summer of ’95 when Jones was a baby-faced 23-year old for the team of the ‘90s and I was an eight-year old little boy who didn’t know what baseball was until the Braves made that faithful run past the Rockies, the Reds and finally the Indians to win their only World Series title of their historic run.
Chipper Jones and I have grown up together in a way; oddly enough we were even born in the very same hospital in DeLand, Fla. Him in 1972. Me in 1987. And now sixteen years later in the late summer of 2011, the now 39-year old Jones is helping to lead his Braves back to the playoffs and in two weeks I’ll be a 24-year old recent college graduate living the adult life trying to find employment somewhere.
I’m trying to live the adult life, but watching Chipper Jones still makes me feel the joy of being a young boy growing up with him and my Braves. Every now and then when his sweet swing is going great he’s got that little boy smile on his face too. I hope it never ends.
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