Chipper Jones’ farewell tour kicked off in Houston this week
when the future hall of fame slugger headed to Minute Maid Park to face the
Astros for the final time in their home ballpark. Farewell tours have become
kind of commonplace among retiring baseball players who announce their
retirement prior to a season or early on in a season. 2001 featured two
memorably farewell tours when hall of famers Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn
announced their retirements in the same season. On these farewell tours players
are generally saluted by organizations and fans of the home team for their
dedication to the sport and greatness in the sport. It’s truly an honor moment
for these players and terrific of the organizations and fans to send them out
in such a fashion.
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| Astros legend Craig Biggio presents Chipper with cowboy hat |
Houston was the first stop on Chipper’s farewell tour and
the act of gift giving has begun. Jones was presented a cowboy hat as a
retirement gift from Astros legend and future hall of fame second baseman Craig
Biggio during a pregame ceremony on Monday (April 9) prior to the start of the
series, which the
Braves would win 2-1.
You can see a part of the ceremony HERE
Biggio would say about Jones: “As a player, the home fans
love you, but there's a lot of fans that respect you in other ballparks. They
might not like you because of what you've done to them on the baseball field,
but they respect you the way you play. To be able to let them say thank you in
return is a classy move. It's a good thing. He'll be sad once that last day
gets here, but he should enjoy it because he's meant a lot to the game."
Seeing Biggio honor Jones is a great moment for me as a
baseball fan, because Jones and Biggio, who could be inducted into the hall of
fame next year, were basically of the same mold when it comes to ballplayers.
Both are throwback, gritty, hustle players that you just know could’ve thrived
in the game in any era. Biggio is one of those guys who, though I’m glad spent
his entire career with the Astros (as Jones will with the Braves), I would’ve
loved to have seen play alongside Jones in the Braves infield. However, I’m
thrilled to know both will finally join the same team in Cooperstown one day.
The Braves now have six games at home against the Milwaukee
Brewers and New York Mets before Jones makes his last trip to Arizona to play
the Diamondbacks on April 19.
In Jones’ final game against the Astros on Wednesday, the
third bagger went 2-for-5 with two singles and a run scored. Jones is batting
.444 after two games this season.
Chipper singled in his final career at-bat against the
Astros in the ninth inning off of Astros reliever Wesley Wright in a fitting
way to end his career against the Astros in Houston. The hit in Jones’ final
at-bat also bookends his career in Houston as Jones hit a single off of Astros
starting pitcher Greg Swindell on May 26, 1995 in his first at-bat in Houston
when the Astros played at the Astrodome. (from Mark Bowman’s Twitter)
Jones has a career batting average of higher than .320 against
the Astros with 20 home runs and 79 RBI against Houston in 124 regular season
games. The Astros pitcher he touched for the most homers was Shane Reynolds
whom he hit six homers off of. Jones and Reynolds would go on to be teammates
for one season in 2003.
