Chipper Jones is officially retired after the Atlanta Braves lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the first ever Wild Card Playoff Game in baseball.
The Braves and Kris Medlen seemed to have the game in the bag as David Ross gave them a 2-0 lead. With Medlen on the mound, two runs are equivalent to 10. However, a Chipper Jones miscue in the fourth inning gave life to the Cardinals, and they took advantage scoring three runs in the fourth and never looking back.
Jones used his soft hands to trap a liner off the bat of Matt Holliday, but he could not feed Dan Uggla for the potential start to a double play.
It would have been two outs with Allen Craig at bat, but instead Medlen ran the count to 3-1 and Craig hammered one over the head of Martin Prado for a double, which led to the beginning of the end for the Braves.
"There are a lot of guys in [the clubhouse] laying blame," he said. "But I kept my mouth shut because ultimately I'm to blame. That ball was tailor-made for a double play."
Indeed it was.
Maybe Chipper was meant to retire in 2010 when he went down with a season-ending injury against the Houston Astros.
He did not want to end his career on an injury, so instead, he came back and noticing that he could still play, made 2012 his last season.
Many might look at this ending as a negative, it is definitely not the way a baseball fanatic like Jones, who spent his entire 19-year career with the Braves, wanted to go out, but in the end people will remember him for his toe-tap and being one of the greatest switch-hitters and third basemen of the game.
He was a team player who took paycuts allowing the team to get players like Tim Hudson in their rotation. Chipper is a first ballot hall of famer with the 57th most hits in MLB history at 2,726. He finished his career with 468 home runs, 1,623 RBI and a .303 batting average.
Larry "Chipper" Jones might take the blame, but hey Chip, at least you did not cost the Braves the World Series. It was not a grandous exit, but you will always be remembered for being a warrior and one of the best Braves of all time.
