Body found on Chipper Jones' ranch

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The body of a 22-year-old man was found Thursday morning on Chipper Jones’ family ranch in southwest Texas.

“He was in a part of the ranch we don’t go to on a daily basis,” Jones’ father, Larry Jones Sr. said Thursday evening from Double Dime Ranch in Carrizo Springs, Texas.

Jones Sr. said the man, a Mexican national, had entered the country illegally. The extreme heat and the drought would have made it difficult for anyone to survive without food or water, he said.

Thursday was the 83rd straight day of temperatures topping at least 100 degrees, Jones said. Recently, Jones’ truck thermometer read 124 degrees.

The man’s body was discovered around 6:30 a.m. by a ranch foreman. Jones Sr. called police, then left a message for the Braves’ third baseman on his answering machine.

Chipper Jones called his dad later in the morning to get the details, his father said.

The Carrizo Springs police could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

The Jones family has owned the 10,000-acre ranch, located 130 miles southwest of San Antonio, since 2000.

“As the crow flies, we’re eight miles from the Rio Grande,” Jones Sr. said.

The game ranch is home to 750 head of steer, as well as various wildlife. Guides tours are offered at the “hunters’ paradise,” according to Web site for the ranch. There’s a rifle range, stocked lakes for fishing, and a hunting lodge.

Chipper Jones visits the ranch several times a year during the offseason and for Thanksgiving, his father said. The Double Dime ranch got its name because the 1999 National League MVP wears the No. 10 jersey, and his father did, too, during his own playing days.