The Chipper Jones, Boog Sciambi story told this week is a classic.
Jones was in the booth with Sciambi and David Ross during Wednesday’s Braves-St. Louis Cardinals game in Atlanta on ESPN. During the game, Chipper and Sciambi revisited a great story from Jones’ playing days.
As they told it, Sciambi, who called Braves games from 2007 to 2009, asked Chipper why he had been swinging at so many first pitches in his at-bats. Jones said it was because that was the only time he was seeing fastballs. So then they got into a game on Aug. 4, 2009 and Chipper took a first pitch from Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer that was a 91 mph fastball down the middle. Chipper’s reaction was priceless.
That is exactly why Hall of Famers shouldn’t concern themselves with the opinions of broadcasters.
Jones was toward the end of a 19-season career by that point. He was 37 in 2009 and batted .264 with 18 home runs that season, which was the year after he won the batting title for hitting .364.
A former MVP and batting champion probably shouldn’t alter his approach based on the suggestion of a play-by-play announcer.
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