Chipper Jones' Season a Joyride to the Crest

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The young baseball star in Atlanta is on the phone with his father in Florida, discussing the profile piece in Sports Illustrated, the one that leads off with a picture of Chipper Jones, mouth open a mile wide, hanging upside down in the car of a roller coaster.

Portrait of the phenom as Everykid.

"He told me, 'I'm the only player in the major leagues who the people have an intimate knowledge of his tnsils,'" Larry Jones said.

Chipper may as well get used to it. America has just begun to examine Atlanta's newest baseball hero from the tonsils down and finding a story almost as much fun as a Six Flags ride.

He's even a hot topic in DeLand, Fla., where Larry tries to teach at the local high school while listening to the town talk about his only child. "I sometimes think that my first name is 'Chipper's' and my last name's 'dad,'" Larry said.

At 24 and in only his second full season, Chipper Jones has become the heartbeat of the Braves. The older, veteran players glide matter-of-factly to their positions. Chipper hustles out to short or third, his 6-foot-3 body stretched by the old-style way he pulls his pants up to his knees.

He provides a special energy to the world champions. And he has had an extraordinary year, hitting .311 with 30 home runs and 110 RBIs. He's the first Brave to score 100 runs and drive in 100 in a season since Ron Gant in 1993. In May and June, he reached base safely in 34 straight games. In August, he had an 18-game hitting streak.

"But for all he can do on a baseball field," said his dad, "we're prouder of the fact that he's a decent human being."

Quietly, Chipper donated part of his signing bonus in 1990 to fund the construction of an office for his high school baseball coach at The Bolles School in Jacksonville.

"It was kind of a payback to my coach and my school and baseball program for helping me out," Chipper said. "We had a great field and cages and stuff but we didn't have much of a locker room. My coach didn't have an office. I donated a little money so they can benefit. There's a trophy room that's got my name over it or something. I haven't even seen it."

It's the kind of information Jones prefers keeping to himself, but with his stardom has come a more pulic persona. He seems to be the first player reporters seek out after a game because he usually says something quotable. He has taken a turn as a columnist, sharing his thoughts during the Braves' Olympic road trip in a diary for the Journal-Constitution.

Then there's "Ask Chipper," his spot on the pregame radio broadcast in which he answers kids' questions.

"What were your favorite subjects in school?"

"Lunch and recess," Jones replied, adding that he had to do well in math because his dad is a math teacher.

"What advice can you give to an 8-year-old?"

"Tough question," Then he told the 8-year-old you're never too young to set goals. "Yeah, I remember having goals when I was 8," Jones explained the other day at his locker. "While it may not have been as high as I am right now, my sights when I was 8 were to play in the major division of our Little League, play with the 11-and 12-year-olds. I think every year or two you graduate up to another goal. When I was 8 years old that was my first year of organized baseball, so I wanted to make that team and make a contribution. I was serious about it. You're talking about a guy who came from a baseball family so baseball wasn't taken lightly."

"What's it like to be famous?"

Jones said, "It's kind of interesting when they want to know about your personal life. I don't tell too much. I try to stay away from it just because I have enough trouble with privacy right now. That's going out over [AM] 750 and a lot of people listen to 750 for the Braves games. When I leave this clubhouse, I want to be an ordinary Moe. I don't want to be recognized, I just want to go home, spend quality time with my family. When I'm here, I'm Chipper. When I'm out there, I'm just going to try to be somebody else."

He's been much more than an ordinary Moe for the Braves this season, playing third base, short and right field with a penchant for the dramatic.

"He has great instincts," third base coach Jimy Williams said. "The thing about him is, he asks questions and he has good evaluations of what's going on, for a player who hasn't played at this level for a long period of time. Where he got that, I don't know. How he got that, I don't know. You don't teach it. So I don't bother him too much. I talk to him but I don't tell him. He has, what's the word? I want to say extrasensory perception, ESP. You can tell other guys [about a situation] and they'll say, 'yeah,' but they don't understand it. He'll tell you the first time what it is. I'll just go 'wow,' to myself."

Terry Pendleton, the veteran third baseman, sees something else about Jones that he likes. "He shows up here every day to win," Pendleton said. "He's going to get his work done, whatever it takes for him to be successful. I don't mean to knock the kids of today but some of the kids, when they get to the big leagues, they just show up and they're happy to be here. He's not happy to be in the big leagues. He works hard to stay here."

Pendleton probably owes his second stint with the Braves to Jones' willingness to move from third base to short in mid-August. "Without his cooperation they might have had to take another route," Pendleton said.

"That's the type of kid he is," manager Bobby Cox said. "His attitude is: 'I'll play where you need me.' It doesn't matter to him. Wherever you want to play him you can without any complaining. In fact, he welcomes the challenge. I think he likes it. I mean, if we told him today he had to play second tonight, he'd say, 'Good, I want to do that.'

"You could call him a throwback. He's in that category, along with a bunch of our guys. He's definitely, 'Whatever you want me to do I'll do. If you worry about my swing, don't because I'm going to hit the same, doesn't matter. It's not going to bother me.'"

Gee, can't anyone say something bad about this kid? Well, here's one thing. "His mother burns up those phone lines every time she sees him chewing tobacco on TV," Chipper's dad said. "It's interesting to hear her tearing into him and here's this pretty well established 24-year-old on the other end of the line going, 'Yes, mom, I'll try, mom.' She noticed the other night when he went out there chewing bubble gum. Every day of his life that he has put that stuff in his mouth, she's tried to bug him out of it. I know he's trying to quit. So is his dad."

Before that game last week, Chipper had been cornered by announcer Joe Garagiola to talk about the health risks of dipping, showing him the repulsive pictures of a former major leaguer whose face has been disfigured by tumors. He switched to bubble gum.

Every day he's out there, it's obvious that Chipper is having fun. "It's kind of hard to top last year, my first full season in the big leagues, to cap it off with a World Series championship. That was pretty fun. This season has been grueling. You've got to remember this has been my first 162-game season. Right now I'm a little tired mentally and physically.

"But, certainly, it's been enjoyable. Happiness comes with winning and we've been successful this year. Obviously I've achieved a lot of goals that I set for myself early in the season but ther's on still out there. I've got nine more fingers to fill up. Eight, actually, 'cause I've got this [wedding ring], too."

By Al Levine, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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