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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The drama of Chipper and .400
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three times in the last two games, Chipper Jones has come to the plate with his batting average at exactly .400. All three times he’s gone to first base unscathed - Monday night in Colorado, he hit a bases-loaded two run single, and last night in Texas he drew a pair of walks.
When he comes to the plate tonight in Texas for his first at-bat, he’ll be staring down the same deal - a chance that his batting average could fall under .400 for the first time since April 12.
And maybe the hype would be over, or come to a slow close (until it becomes clear he’s in the hunt for a batting title down the stretch). Or maybe Chipper gets a couple more hits and gets back up over .400.
Whatever happens, it feels a little dramatic to me, seeing that round number up there on the scoreboard.
As for him?
Chipper insisted that when he came up in that situation Monday, he wasn’t thinking about .400. And me being the stickler, I was like “OK, yeah, but weren’t you at least glad to get out of that game with your average above .400?”
“Yeah, but if we win 7-0 and I go under .400 I’m not going to be hanging my head about it,” Chipper said.
And then he added this, with a little more conviction in his voice:
“I’m not worried about hitting .400,” he said. “I want to get my run production numbers up, I want to get my extra base hit numbers up. Continuing to be a tough out is important to me, but I’m not going to consume myself with hitting .400. It’s a stretch to begin with, and I’m not going to kill myself trying to keep my average over .400.”
The ‘rents Larry and Lynn are here in Texas taking in these games, after making the nine-hour drive up from Chipper’s Double Dime ranch south of San Antonio. If anybody can will Chipper to keep his average up, it’s Mama and Papa Jones.
But if not, today might a good day to peruse the ol’ .400 stats one last time, just in case.
Looking up and down the chart on Baseball Almanac’s website of the all-time .400 hitters I sit here wondering what Chipper Jones’ name would look like up there with Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and George Sisler.
Actually, no, I’m not really doing that. I can’t quite picture it happening, and Chipper can’t either, so I don’t think he would fault me that. What I’m really doing is chuckling at seeing a Rogers on that list. My cousin Rogers Hornsby? He hit .400 three times. The only other player to do that was Ty Cobb.
Since 1900, only eight men have hit .400. None since Ted Williams, of course, in 1941. Here are those eight guys who did it 13 times in all, in reverse chronological order.
Ted Williams .406 1941 Bill Terry .401 1930 Rogers Hornsby .403 1925 Rogers Hornsby .424 1924 Harry Heilmann .403 1923 George Sisler .420 1922 Rogers Hornsby .401 1922 Ty Cobb .401 1922 George Sisler .407 1920 Ty Cobb .409 1912 Ty Cobb .420 1911 Joe Jackson .408 1911 Nap Lajoie .426 1901
And you gotta love the quote the Almanac has from Ted Williams at the top of that chart.
“I hope somebody hits .400 soon,” Williams said. “Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.”
Well count me among those pestering now, and Chipper Jones as “that guy” who 67 years later still gives proper respect to the last man to do it.
“Ted Williams is probably the greatest hitter to ever play the game from a power and average standpoint,” Jones said. “It truly is amazing, and I’ve never been accused of thinking myself a Ted Williams clone. So I’ll just do the best I can and whatever happens, happens.”
He’ll be facing rookie right-hander Eric Hurley tonight, who is making only his second major league start for the Rangers. Chipper’s got no history against him. So we’ll just have to wait and see.
McCANNix for ALL-STAR: The latest voting has Brian McCann about 500,000 votes behind Cubs catcher Geovany Soto. We know about Cubs fans and their ballot boxes, but I want to know how fair that is by the voters. Let’s look at some numbers, shall we?
BA On-base Slugging 2B 3B HR RBI
McCann .310 .383 .573 22 1 13 42 Soto .283 .368 .517 19 1 11 42
The power numbers are awfully comparable but as far as reaching base, McCann has the clear edge. Kinda make you say hm?
And some tidbits: When Jair Jurrjens pitched 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball at Coors Field on Monday night, he became only the third rookie to shut out the Rockies at Coors Field through seven innings, according to Elias. He joins Florida’s Ricky Nolasco in 2006 and Philadelphia’s Matt Beech in 1997. Beech had to be especially impressive. No humidor in ‘97.
The Damian Moss reclamation project took a nice turn Monday in Richmond. The Aussie left-hander threw 6 1/3 shutout innings to take the win, allowing five hits and two walks, while striking out four. He’s 3-5 with a 4.25 ERA overall.
In case you hadn’t heard, Jason Heyward apparently hit a bomb of a homer in the Sally League All-Star game last night. Any and all incoming details welcome.
More from the lovely ballpark at Arlington in a while.
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