Thank You Chipper
Written by Daniel Doyle, Monday June 22 2009
Chipper Jones was one of three Braves to be ejected in the 7th inning of Sunday's loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Finally emotion from an Atlanta Brave. This club has appeared to be dead to the world for much of the last two weeks. Not only have they been playing poorly, the losing seems to have no affect on them. I know these guys collect a paycheck whether they are ten games over .500 or ten games under, but it would certainly be nice to see these guys actually have one, single shred of pride.
This is the Atlanta Braves. America's team. The team whose fan base spread all over the nation when its owner, Ted Turner, put them on his little television network in the 70's. This is the team that won 14 consecutive division titles and one World Series in its glory days from 1991 until 2005. This club should have some freakin pride about them. They aren't the Chicago Cubs, who are more famous for how they always find a way to lose. They aren't the Washington Nationals, who are routinely mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in May. They are Chief Knockahoma and city of "The Chop." And it is about time someone acted like they care.
What ignited three Braves(Bobby Cox, Eric O'Flaherty, Chipper Jones) to the brink of eruption, was a poor ball-strike call by the home plate umpire. Let me preface the following scene by saying that this particular umpire had been terrible all day. His strike zone wasn't only inconsistant, it appeared to not exist. Pitches that were clearly out of the zone were called strikes several times, and pitches that caught quite a bit of the plate had been called a ball.
Chipper had been punched out on a bad call in the first inning which surely contributed to his mounting frustration. Later on in the seventh, O'Flaherty quickly got ahead of J.D. Drew 0-2. The next pitch, which was replayed dozens of times, nearly split the heart of the plate and was a little over knee high. When the pitch was located in the K-Zone, it proved to be almost directly in the middle of the box. It was called a ball. Predictably, the next pitch was hit off the wall and drove in the go ahead run from second. O'Flaherty began letting the umpire know what he thought about his call on the 0-2 pitch as Cox came out to remove him from the game. When Bobby saw this, he then changed directions and went to confront the umpire to defend his player. Improbably, Chipper Jones snapped.
He was right behind Cox, his head was leaning in over Bobby's shoulder. Screaming. Pointing his finger. Showing some fire. You have to understand the importance of seeing Chipper do this. He has always been an almost Tim Duncan-like figure. Always a great player, but never shows much emotion. He usually takes care of his business in a very professional way. Which is fine. Except that this team needs something to spark them. They have looked so lackadaisical it has been sickening. Braves fans have simply needed a reason to believe they actually care about wins and losses. Chipper provided that.
Even though Atlanta went on to lose that game on a walk off homerun, by of all people, Nick Green(a former Brave), there is hope in Atlanta. The culmination of the frustrations of the last three years seemed to have all been released on one rather pathetic, mustached umpire. It was absolutely glorious. I have never felt so wonderful about a loss in my life. Whether or not the Braves can turn that tirade into motivation and momentum is to be determined. At least there is hope. And for that, I must say: Thank you Chipper.
Tags:
Recent Braves Articles
- Chipper Jones announces 2012 MLB season to be his last
- Fantasy Baseball Players on the Verge of a Monster Season
- Cardinals In Braves Out
- Braves Don’t Want the Wild Card
- Dan Uggla's Streak
- Braves Shopping For Bullpen Help
- Braves Win 10,000th
- Braves Have More Young Arms
- The Braves Might Hate To Leave May Behind
- Two No-Hit Bids Spoiled
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
7 comments
Please sign in to rate!
Thank you for the correction Gator. I simply wasn't aware TBS broadcasted them that far back. My mistake. Either way, TBS brought the Braves the nickname as America's Team and it has stuck since the 1970's. As Gator stated.
Please sign in to rate!
Daniel, Turner put the Braves on TBS back in the 70s, so it's much older than what you wrote. Don't know if you meant the 70s. At any rate it was nice to have the choice of Braves or Cubs and even the Mets on WOR for quite some time on cable as well. *** Marko, the reason there are Cubs fans all over the country is because so many people from Chicago move away for careers, to escape the weather, etc. Chicago is the 3rd largest city in the US so it stands to reason the Cubs and White Sox have big fan bases across the US. Last summer there were a lot of Cubs fans in St. Pete to see them get swept by the Rays. They were none too happy after the 3rd night of losing, but they are used to it.
Please sign in to rate!
Just for reference here are the nicknames given for the Cubs: The Cubbies, The North Siders, The Boys in Blue, and The Loveable Losers
Please sign in to rate!
Sorry Marko. Apparently you were born post TBS Braves days, but they were routinely called America's team all throughout the 90's as people all over the country followed them on TBS. Check Wikipedia for their nicknames. The list includes: The Bravos, America's Team, The Team of the 90's, and ATL.
Please sign in to rate!
I think the point about America's team was that was the marketing that TBS used when Turner made sure they were part of the cable package... the Cubs were on cable packages on WGN at the same time, but did not use the same marketing scheme that the Braves did. And this comes from a fan in Red Sox nation. As long as we don't call the Yankees America's team...they can be corporate America's team
Please sign in to rate!
The umpire in question was Bill Hohn, and it did seem like there were more called strikes early and a shrinking strike zone late. But it did seem to effect both teams. Also, with a knuckleball pitcher on the mound, it can be tough to call a strike when it can cross the plate in and out of the zone on the same pitch!
Please sign in to rate!
Dude! The Braves, Americas team? Don't make me laugh. The Cubs are Americas team in baseball. Tonight, in Atlanta, there will probably be more Cubs fans at the game then Braves fans. No matter what stadium the Cubs play in, there are usually masses of Cubs fans at the game. Please, don't make statements that are not even close to being true!