New York — For an hour Monday, Chipper Jones smiled into the cameras and answered questions, charming newspaper scribes and blow-dryed TV types alike with a slow drawl, wise cracks, and thoughtful, reverent comments about being in the last All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night.

"Any player will tell you, they want to be successful on the biggest stage," said the Braves third baseman, back in the All-Star Game for the first time since 2001 and leading the majors with a .376 batting average at age 36. "If you're successful here [in New York], you're accepted everywhere.

AP (ENLARGE)

Braves' Chipper Jones, who will make his sixth All-Star appearance Tuesday, is hitting .376 at the break.

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"If you can stand toe-to-toe with this beast and conquer it, you're pretty much at the apex."

Ten feet away, an attractive middle-aged couple smiled out of camera range, watching as waves of reporters made their way across a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel to speak with the Braves third baseman during a National League All-Star media session.

"I'm awful proud of him, I tell ya," said Larry Jones Sr., his voice catching as he glanced at his son seated at the table, with a seemingly superfluous "Chipper Jones" sign affixed to a wall behind him.

He's as renowned in New York during the past 15 years as any player from a visiting team other than Boston's Red Sox, mostly because of the job he's done against the Mets through the years.

"You can't believe the size town we're from," said Larry Sr., referring to Pierson, Fla. (pop. 2,596). "Honestly. We've got a caution light, a convenience store, two supply houses and a post office — that's it. And we do have a coffee shop, Carter's Country Kitchen. and the first thing in the morning, everybody's there, and everybody knows everybody else.

"And to believe he's sitting in New York City, with all this, is beyond me."

Another thing Larry Sr. and Lynne shake their heads over is seeing Chipper's name mentioned in the same sentence as Mickey Mantle, a baseball god in the Jones household. The elder Jones passed along to his switch-hitting son an appreciation of the Yankees' famous "Mick."

"It chokes me up every time I see it in print or hear it on TV," Lynne said of comparisons that lump Jones with Mantle and a few other elite switch-hitters.

Chipper was eager to take his parents out to Yankee Stadium after Monday's interview session to tour Monument Grove, where his dad planned to have his own picture taken next to the Mantle plaque.

"I'll tell you what, I'll shed a tear out there," Larry Sr. said. "I remember I was probably 40 years old when Mickey died, and I was sitting in the living room. They broadcast his funeral on TV, and Roy Clark got up and sang 'Yesterday When I Was Young,' and I cried like a baby. At 40 years old.

"I get chill bumps thinking about it right now. That man was such a big influence on me growing up."

Chipper's .310 career average ranks second all-time among switch-hitters with at least 6,000 plate appearances, behind Frankie Frisch (.316) and ahead of Pete Rose (.303) and Mantle (.298). Jones' 404 homers ranks third among switch-hitters, behind Mantle (536) and Eddie Murray (504).

The elder Jones was a ballplayer who wore No. 10, like his son today. Hence the name of Chipper's "Double-Dime Ranch" in Texas, where his parents live and take care of things while their son is away.

"I've got a thing in my den," Larry Sr. said. "I can't remember who wrote it, but the headline read, 'Chipper wearing Mickey's Mantle.' I've got it right next to a picture of Chipper with the [1999] MVP trophy."

Seated at the next table over Monday was the Braves' other All-Star, catcher Brian McCann, the first player in franchise history to make the All-Star team in each of the first three seasons that he was on the opening-day roster. McCann considers Jones a mentor and goes to him regularly for advice.

Most people are aware of Jones' fondness for Shea Stadium, where he hit his first homer and has hit so well — .310, 19 homers in 84 games — that he named a son Shea.

He also has a fondness for Yankee Stadium, where he's hit .368 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 14 games.

"Every player in the league will tell you that if there was ever a year they wanted to make the All-Star team, this is it," Jones said, "to get to play in the last All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium."