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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > May > 22
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Comparing Chipper to Mantle not a stretch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a sacrilege, but so be it. If you ignore Mickey Mantle’s 536 home runs and magical name for the ages, Chipper Jones is just a few seasons shy of ranking as the greatest switch-hitter ever. He’ll surpass Eddie Murray, whose 504 homers were aided by longevity and the DH. More significant, he’ll surpass Mantle, idolized by Jones, even though the Braves slugger was born four years after the Mick’s last game in pinstripes.
You may stop gasping now, because it’s true. If you prefer not to believe me, then how about Bobby Cox?
As Braves manager, Cox has seen every one of Jones’ 2,031 games. “He’s in the Hall of Fame, even if he stops playing right now,” said Cox on Thursday night at Turner Field, where Jones continued to swing beyond even his typically lofty standards. But back to Cox, among Mantle’s former teammates with those New York Yankees of yore, which means the following is rather huge. Said Cox, when asked about Jones likely becoming better overall at the plate than Mantle, than Murray, than any switch-hitter in professional baseball’s 139 years, “I think you could say that, yeah. I really do. You could say that he’s headed that way. Absolutely.”
The New York Mets would agree, especially after Jones did much to sweep them out of town in four games. During the Braves’ 4-2 victory in this one, Jones stayed around Ted Williams territory (.400) after going 2-for-4 to raise his outrageously high bar for everybody else in the major leagues to.412. He displayed his ability to use his brain as well as his brawn in the seventh inning against the esteemed Johan Santana. With the score tied at 2-2 and runners at the corners, Jones calmly poked an outside pitch from the Mets’ left-handed ace into shallow right field to score the eventual winning run.
It was the stuff of Mantle, a master in the clutch, and Cox should know. “Switch-hitters with power, and both of them could be laid-back at times, and both of them could have fun, and both of them could have that focus,” Cox said. “Nobody’s more focused than Chipper during a ballgame. I mean, he has total concentration. Mickey was the same way. Chipper doesn’t say a lot on the bench, because he’s watching everything that’s going on.”
So much for the comparisons. Now to the contrasts. Mantle and Murray are the only switch-hitters with more home runs than Jones’ 398, but neither Mantle nor Murray finished with a career batting average over .300, where Jones has resided forever during his 15 seasons. Murray had those 573 at-bats as a DH to Jones’ 71, which means Jones has had to overcome more than Murray ever did by concentrating on fielding and hitting instead of just hitting. Plus, Jones has nine seasons of 100 RBIs or more and counting, while Murray had six and Mantle had four.
We won’t even mention that Mantle often swung in a who’s who lineup, ranging from Joe DiMaggio to Yogi Berra to Roger Maris. In contrast, Jones mostly has been in batting orders for the Braves with good hitters instead of great ones.
Such talk makes Jones force a smile after cringing. That’s because he has so much respect for his retired elders, already sitting in Cooperstown. “With Eddie, you always think about longevity, you think about runs produced, RBIs, runs scored and setting the bar so high,” Jones said. “With Mantle, you think about mammoth home runs, 500-plus homers, a career cut short because of injuries. I wanted to be the all-around guy that hits for average, high on-base percentage. Hit the home runs. Drove in the runs. If I have four or five more years with the same type of numbers, you might be able to put me in the same breath as those other guys. But it’s way too early to say I’m with the best of all time.”
Actually, it isn’t.
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