Thursday, August 22, 2013

Chipper leaving his mark in final season

One of the all-time great DMBLers is making the most of his retirement tour through the league. The cornerstone of the controversial yet record-setting Newark Sugar Bears dynasty, Chipper Jones will leave the DMBL among the all-time leaders in virtually every category but triples and stolen bases.
After a sluggish first half, Jones enjoyed an unexpected power surge in the third quarter of the season. Now with 23 home runs, Jones has vaulted up the all-time home run list, becoming the 6th player to reach 450 round-trippers and passing some select company. During a stretch of only about a week or so, the Brick City third basemen passed Sammy Sosa (#9, 446), Vlad Guerrero (#8, 447) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (#7, 448). Number 6 all-time is likely where he'll finish since Philly's Albert Pujols is just too far out of reach at #5, with 484.

Alex Rodriguez is the active leader in home runs. In limited playing time this season with Las Vegas, A-Rod has slowly snuck up to near 600. The suspected PED user has smacked only 9 home runs this year but is second all-time with 594, way behind Barry Bonds at 689.

Earlier in the year, Jones broke the all-time record for most doubles, eclipsing longtime teammate Manny Ramirez, who had 538. Chipper enters the season's final weeks with 562 doubles. In a more recent career milestone a couple weeks ago, Chipper jumped ahead of Manny (1,728) for second place in career RBIs, with 1,732, trailing only Bonds (2,060).

A lock to make the DMBL Hall of Fame once he becomes eligible, Jones won't catch his future HOF colleague Derek Jeter of Marietta for the all-time hits record. He's safely ensconced in second place, more than 200 hits ahead of Guerrero, with 2,809, but several dozen behind Jeter (2,877).

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