Whether or not it's money, chemistry, or the rebuilding for the future... teams eventually sever ties with even the biggest fan favorites. Other times, the team would love to keep their star attraction, but the player decides to test out free agency. Which is why it seems like with each passing decade... it's less and less likely to see baseball players spend their entire career with one franchise.
Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves were incredibly loyal to each other for over two decades during his playing career. This astonishing bond allowed Jones to become the 52nd MLB hall of famer to play his entire career with one franchise, which is a feat I can't help but admire.
Although I don't consider myself an Atlanta Braves fan or a Chipper Jones collector, I have gone out of my way to pick up cards of him over the years. In honor of him being inducted into Cooperstown this afternoon, I decided to show off a few of my favorite singles.
2003 Fleer National Patchtime #CJ-NP (#'d 057/100)
I'm not 100% positive, but I think this swatch comes from the head of the axe. Maybe there's a Braves fan out there who can confirm or deny this. Regardless, it's the first patch card of Chipper I ever owned.
1998 Bowman's Best Autograph #5
When I purged my collection back in 2001, there were two Chipper autographs that I decided to keep. This is one of them.
Here is the other...
1999 Stadium Club Co-Signers #CS4
If I had to keep only one Chipper, it would probably be this one. In an era where sticker autographs reign, it's pretty cool to think that this card was once held by Jones and Derek flippin' Jeter. If I'm still blogging in two years, there's a good chance you'll be seeing this card again.
What the heck... you'll probably see this card too...
1997 SPx Force #6 (#'d 331 of 500)
If you're a 90's insert card collector, than you probably appreciate this card. My copy happens to suffer from severe chipping on the backside:
Obviously this lowers the resale value, but I'm not looking to sell this card anyways.
1991 O-Pee-Chee #333
Over the past few years, I've kinda been obsessed with picking up O-Pee-Chee rookie cards of baseball hall of famers. Although I wouldn't describe this card as rare, it's more challenging to find than its regular Topps counterpart.
2016 Topps Strata Signatures Green #SA-CJ (#'d 56/75)
I really like the look of this card. You know me and my acetate fetish.
2003 Flair Sweet Swatch Jumbo Patch #CJ-SSPE (#'d 152/284)
Last month, SumoMenkoMan sent me one of these jumbo memorabilia cards. I immediately headed over to COMC and found this card for $8.83. I don't usually spend over $5 on a memorabilia card unless it's something special. This card meets the requirements.
2015 Sportkings Black Printing Plate #003
I'll wrap things up with the only Chipper printing plate sitting in my collection. I know that I'm not a huge fan of "logoless" cards, but Sportkings is one of the few exceptions to this rule.
Thank you Chipper for all of the great memories. I truly admire your loyalty to the Atlanta Braves organization.
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
Go Chipper! I definitely admire and cheer for players that have stuck with one team for their career. Harder and harder to do, though. On-card autos from the 1990s rule. You have quite the collection for sure!
ReplyDeleteGood to see Chipper Jones getting his due. The Cooperstown inductees are stating to fall into the category of 'guys whose careers I pretty much missed'. Jones, Vlad Guerrero and Jim Thome are guys I didn't see much of. My loss for sure.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they have a plaque for him at the Hooters Hall of Fame, but he was quite the one-team guy as far as the MLB and Atlanta Braves were concerned.
ReplyDeleteThe Jeter/Chipper is a great looking card. I'm very envious!
ReplyDeleteBest third baseman of our generation...nice collection, especially the Jeter / Jones combo. But you buried the lead...."IF" you're blogging in two years????
ReplyDeleteSweet Chippers, I don't have a single one of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Braves guy and Chipper is top 5 for me all-time. I'm a huge fan of a player staying with one team his entire career and I don't think we'll see a lot of that going forward. The Braves gave Chipper a nice deal near the end of his career and I thought it might be one they wouldn't get their money's worth out of but they did though injuries robbed him of more greatness. Awesome cards and thanks for listening to me gush.
ReplyDeleteSumoMenkoMan - Yeah. They're a dying breed. Hopefully guys like Trout and Altuve will continue the tradition.
ReplyDeleteCommishbob - I was fortunate enough to watch Jones a few times thanks to TBS. :)
Laurens - I'll check the next time I stop by for their wings ;)
The Lost Collector - That's one of my favorite cards in the collection for sure.
Jafronius - Lol. You never know what the future holds.
John Miller - If you end up getting the Sportkings black printing plate, I'm gonna start to worry.
Bulldog - Chipper had better numbers in 2011/2012 than he had in 2009/2010. Definitely wrapped up his career with some solid seasons.