Chipper Named to All Star team, has 'Dream Game' on Same Day

On the same day that Atlanta Braves slugger Chipper Jones was named to his eighth career All Star team he also had a game for the ages that he himself referred to as a “dream game.”

Earlier in the day Jones had been named to the National League All Star squad as an injury replacement for Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, who was voted into the NL’s starting lineup by the fans.

Jones had initially been left off of the National League’s All Star roster, but was included by National League manager Tony La Russa in the Final Five voting with fellow teammate Michael Bourn, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese, Washington Nationals young phenol outfielder Bryce Harper and Arizona Diamondbacks hot second baseman Aaron Hill.

Jones’ selection to the NL squad as an injury replacement, means that neither he nor his fans will have to wait until Thursday to see whether or not he’s an All Star and means that Bourn, Freese, Harper and Hill has less competition to make the squad. Freese is the current Final Five vote leader with a little less than two days remaining to vote.

Jones told the press that he always looks forward to the All Star experience and especially looks forward to sharing the moment with his children in his final year in baseball. Hopefully Chipper will see some game action, at least as a pinch hitter. It might be hard for him to get much playing time with three third basemen on the team (four if Freese wins the Final Vote) with San Francisco Giants Pablo Sandoval and New York Mets third baseman David Wright also being on the squad. It’d be a nice honor if NL manager Tony La Russa named Jones as the team’s starting designated hitter, but I realize that is probably not going to happen.

In Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs Chipper has what he called a “dream game” recording his third career five-hit game, with three singles and two doubles while driving in five runs. Jones’ five-for-five night at the plate upped his batting average to .313 on the season. Chris Volstad was the starting pitcher for the Cubs and is now 0-7 on the season after getting roughed up by Jones and the Braves in a 10-3 game.

Chipper’s last five-hit game came off of the Houston Astros and starting pitcher Dave Milicki in 2002. His first career five-hit game was in 2001 off of the Arizona Diamondbacks and starting pitcher Armando Reynoso.  

Click HERE to see the standing ovation that Chipper received on his career day.

Click HERE to check out the box score from his five-for-five outing.

Chipper Needs Your Final Vote

Well, Chipper Jones unfortunately wasn’t voted in as the starting third baseman of the National League All Star team by the fans … and neither were deserving third baseman David Wright of the New York Mets and David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In a disgusting surprise, fans of the San Francisco Giants stuffed the ballot boxes in the final days of All Star voting to vote their fan-favorite Pablo Sandoval into the starting position. Sandoval’s inclusion into the game by the fans likely makes him this year’s worst All Star choice for the National League. He’s nowhere near as deserving as Jones, for lifetime achievement reasons, or Wright and Freese, for on-field reasons. This is why fan voting for the Major League Baseball All Star game is asinine. It’s just a popularity contest.

Sandoval’s inclusion in the All Star game meant that at least one truly deserving third bagger would have to miss out on the game. Unfortunately, Chipper didn’t make the NL all star squad as a reserve either. Wright was given the reserve spot by the player’s vote.

However, National League manager Tony La Russa has given fans one more opportunity to place Chipper Jones into the All Star game by including him among the five nominees for the Final Vote. Jones will be joined in the Final Vote by four other truly deserving candidates: Freese, Chipper’s Braves teammate outfielder Michael Bourn, Washington Nationals rookie phenom outfielder Bryce Harper and Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill.

As a future hall of famer and likely one of the five greatest third baseman to ever play the game of baseball, Chipper greatly deserves the honor of being named to the All Star game and this will likely be his last opportunity for him to make it (it’s highly unlikely that he would be added as an injury replacement).

Fellow Final Vote nominee Bryce Harper said himself that Chipper deserved the All Star nod to MLB.com: “He should have already been in the All-Star Game, no matter what. He's an All-Star, and he's been an All-Star for 20 years. I think Chip should have been there and, like I said, if I had a vote, Chip's going.”

Click HERE to see what Chipper had to say about being included in the Final Vote.

Voting for the Final Vote is open now and will continue through 3 p.m. on Thursday. You can vote for Chipper by clicking HERE.

Only 2 Days Remaining to Vote Chipper into All Star Game

There are only two days remaining to vote for the Major League Baseball All Star game starting lineups and Atlanta Braves future hall of fame third baseman Chipper Jones is fourth in the voting among National League third baseman. 

Now, I know that Jones has been injured twice during the season thus far and hasn’t played in as many games as most of the third baggers in the league. And, I also know that Jones is not nearly having as great of a season as New York Mets third baseman David Wright or even St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese, and I usually scoff at fans who vote for their favorites over the best players in the league. 

However, I can’t help but think that Chipper Jones deserves the starting nod at third base for the All Star game this year in his final year in the sport. I remember all the way back to 2001 when Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. was voted to start the All Star game for the American League and how great of a moment that was for not only him, but for fans all across the country.

Chipper Jones deserves that moment and all true legends of baseball really deserve that moment. I have a feeling that Chipper would want to be the last person to take the honor away from David Wright, but I also know that he’d feel extremely honored by the fans if they banded together and voted him into the midsummer classic. 

I’ve done my part and voted for Chipper the maximum 25 times. Now it’s your turn to go to MLB.com and do the same.  

Vote Chipper Into 2012 MLB All Star Game

The newest National League All Star voting numbers were released on Tuesday (June 12) and Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who recently returned to the Braves lineup, is currently fourth in the all star voting among National League third basemen.

Jones has 1,054,586 votes thus far. The good news for Chipper and Braves fans is that the voting for N.L. third basemen is among the closest positions in the balloting. The current N.L. leader at third base in the voting is New York Mets third bagger David Wright with 1,358,992 votes. Second in the balloting is San Francisco Giants hot corner resident Pablo Sandoval with 1,103,650 votes and coming in third is St. Louis Cardinals David Freese with 1,095,206.

Braves second baseman Dan Uggla is the only Braves currently leading his respective position in the balloting. Uggla has a fairly solid lead over Cincinnati Reds all star Brandon Phillips.

Now, I’ve never been a fan in my life of fans getting to vote for the Major League Baseball All Star Game starting lineups, because they often get things wrong. Fans tend to vote for the most popular players or their favorite players over the players who are most deserving of being all stars.

That previous paragraph means that every single thing I’m about to say makes me a hypocrite this season. I think that in his final season in baseball Chipper Jones, a seven-time All Star, should be named to the National League All Star team as its starting third baseman. We’ve seen this type of thing happen in the past. Baseball hall of famer and Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. was famously voted into the American League All Star starting lineup in his finals season back in 2001. As a legendary player and a great ambassador for the game of baseball, Chipper Jones truly deserves that same treatment. 

Mets' 3B David Wright is current vote getter

I know that Mets superstar David Wright is having the best season of any third baseman in the National League, and arguably MLB as a whole, with a .354 batting average, eight home runs, 34 RBI and 40 runs scored and has been the MVP for a surprising Mets team thus far this season. His performance and stats this year prove he is an all star and in my opinion should definitely be the game’s starting third baseman had this been any other year. I think he should surely be named to this year’s squad as a reserve. Even though he’d know in his head that he was the better third baseman this season I doubt Wright would mind all that much if Jones was elected to start the midsummer classic over him. 

Vote Chipper Jones into the 2012 MLB All Star Game!

The truth of the matter is that despite Jones not having all star worthy numbers two and a half months into the season that doesn’t mean he hasn’t played like an all star this season. Jones has been an all star caliber player in his playing time, which has been dramatically shortened by multiple injuries. When in the lineup Jones has been the Braves best hitter this season hitting .306 with five homers and 24 RBI. Jones has played 26 fewer games this season than Wright and only has three fewer home runs and 10 fewer RBI. Had Chipper have been completely healthy his numbers right now could possibly be superior to Wright’s.

Let’s work together to try to give Chipper Jones the honor that he truly deserves by being the National League starting third baseman in this year’s All Star Game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City (the only stadium by the way in which Chipper has never played a game in his career) by voting him in. You can click HERE to vote for Chipper up to 25 times. I know I’ll be using all 25 of my votes on Chipper. Sorry, David Wright, you really do deserve it, but sometimes even I’ve got to play favorites.