Braves' Chipper Jones No Ordinary Rookie

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Atlanta -- Starting when he was 6, Chipper Jones and his father would go out between the barn and the carport on their Central Florida ranch and fire tennis balls at each other from 40 feet away.

"That's how I learned how to hit," Jones said. "That's probably why I'm such a good fastball hitter."

When he was 12, Chipper Jones began to dominate Little League, hitting three home runs in a game against an Altamonte Springs team that went on to the Little League World Series.

"It was kinda scary, but I said to my wife that day that I think he might be one of the 10 best players in his age group in the country," Larry Jones said. "She said, 'You're just a Little League dad talking.' But we kid about it now and I say, 'I told you so.' "

When he was 14, Chipper Jones played second base on the varsity team at Pierson's Taylor High School. He was in eighth grade.

"You're talking about a 14-year-old playing varsity baseball with 17- and 18-year-olds," Jones said. "I started to realize there weren't a tremendous amount of eighth-graders who make a varsity team."

When he was 18 and graduating from The Bolles High School in Jacksonville, where he had transferred as a sophomore because things were coming too easily at Taylor, Chipper Jones had lots of people after him. UCLA, USC and Stanford wanted him to play football. The University of Miami wanted him to play college baseball. The Atlanta Braves made him the No. 1 draft pick in the country in 1990 and offered him the chance to play professional baseball. He didn't take long to sign.

"I knew where my bread was buttered and it was in baseball," Jones said. "I guess the situation was bred into me. I think just because of my natural abilities I was good in all other sports. But when it came to baseball season, I wasn't just good in baseball."

Chipper -- given name Larry Wayne -- Jones is 23 now. He moved through five minor-league stops and made it to the major leagues in a little more than three years. He has suffered and rehabilitated a serious injury to his left knee that caused him to miss the 1994 season. He has batted in the key third spot in the Braves' order and twice been asked to change positions, from shortstop to leftfield to third base.

And, perhaps most impressively, he has lived up to the hype.

"He is," Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz said, "pretty remarkable."

When the Atlanta Braves open play in the World Series against Cleveland on Saturday night, it will be easy to spot Jones. He will be the first one on the field and he'll be the one wearing a big grin.

"He came out of the clubhouse after they clinched against the Reds the other night," Larry Jones said, "and he whispered in my ear, 'Dad! Can you believe I'm going to play in a World Series! It's just like a dream!'"

Chipper Jones was asked the other day whether there was anything about the playoffs he was not enjoying. "Not one second hasn't been fun," he answered.

How could it not be? After a season in which he hit .265 with 22 doubles, 23 home runs and 86 RBI and will be the NL Rookie of the Year, or finish a close second to Los Angeles pitcher Hideo Nomo, Jones has been even better in the post-season.

Through the Division Series with Colorado and the NL Championship Series sweep of Cincinnati, Jones is hitting .412 (14-for-34) with three home runs and seven RBI.

And he doesn't look anything like a rookie.

"He's a hell of a player," Cincinnati manager Davey Johnson said. "He handles himself like he's been around a lot longer than his first year."

Teammate Mark Wohlers calls Jones a special player. Manager Bobby Cox predicts he will be a perennial All-Star and makes comparisons to Eddie Mathews.

Jones credits his father, a former player and current coach, for helping him develop his talent. Those games beside the barn, where Chipper learned to switch-hit by mimicking the players from a recent televised game, really did lead to something.

But he says it was his mother, Lynne, a champion equestrian rider and trainer, who gave him the confidence that pours out of him.

"My mom instilled in me early that you need a necessary arrogance to be able to compete, especially in this game," Jones said. "Whenever I need a pep talk, she's always there to kick me in the butt and get me back on track with the mental part. Most guys, when their mom suggests something, roll their eyes. When my mom does, I listen."

Larry Jones says Chipper's greatest attribute is not his smooth swing, or his speed, or his occasionally spectacular defense.

"He's always been an extremely hard worker," said Larry Jones, who teaches algebra at Taylor Middle School and is a volunteer coach at Stetson University. "He will compete with you in dominoes, Scrabble, gin rummy just like he's playing the seventh game of the World Series. His work ethic and his competitiveness probably do more for him than his natural ability."

Chipper Jones knows he is good. He knows he is mature. He knows he is about to be a starter -- and maybe a star -- in the World Series. He also knows there is more to come.

"I'm a bit of a perfectionist," he said. "I'm always picking at what's wrong and trying to correct it so that my game will be flawless. I'm looking for that point in my game where I'm hitting .300 from both sides of the plate with power, I'm driving in runs and I'm playing flawless defense. Luckily, this point in the season is probably the closest I've been."

Figures.

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