page_title: Chipper Jones
section_title: 2012: Final season
hierarchical_section_title: Chipper Jones / Professional career / Major league career (1993–2012) / 2012: Final season
caption_attribution_description: English: Chipper Jones salutes the crowd during his final regular season game.
context_page_description: Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. is an American former Major League Baseball player and current broadcast analyst. Jones was the Atlanta Braves' number one overall pick in the 1990 MLB draft and their primary third baseman from 1995 to 2012. He was also a member of their 1995 World Series championship that beat the Cleveland Indians. An eight-time All-Star, Jones won the 1999 National League Most Valuable Player Award and the 1999 and 2000 NL Silver Slugger Award for third basemen. He was the MLB batting champion in 2008 after hitting .364.
  Jones ended his career in 2012 with a .303 career batting average, 468 home runs, and 1,623 RBI. He has the most career RBI for a third baseman and holds the Braves team record for career on-base percentage; Jones ranks third on the Braves career home run list. He spent his entire 19-year MLB career and all 23 years as a professional baseball player in the Atlanta organization.
  Among switch hitters, Jones ranks second behind Eddie Murray for career RBI, and he is the only switch hitter in MLB history with a career batting average of at least .300 and 400 or more home runs.
context_section_description: On March 22, 2012, the Braves announced that Jones would retire following the 2012 season, after 19 major league seasons with the team. Following the announcement, a fan tribute song called "The Chipper Jones Song" was featured in a number of sports blogs.
  Jones opened the 2012 season on the disabled list, following surgery on March 26, 2012 to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He was activated from the disabled list and was in the lineup on April 10, as the Braves faced the Houston Astros; he went 2–4 with a single and a two-run home run, helping the Braves to their first win of the season.
  On April 24, Jones was in the lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers on his 40th birthday. He hit a solo home run in Atlanta's 4–3 win, ending up with a career record of .429 (21-for-49) with five home runs on his birthday. The next day, in the final regular season at-bat at Dodger Stadium of his career, Jones knocked in the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. On May 2, Jones capped off a wild extra-inning contest with the Philadelphia Phillies by hitting a 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th. He referred to the game-winning home run as one of the best individual moments of his career, as it finished a 15–13 Braves win that saw the team rally from two deficits of five runs or more.
  During a May 18 game at Tampa Bay, Jones was hit by a ground ball and suffered a severe contusion to his left leg. On May 25, he was placed on the DL after it became clear that the injury would require more time to heal. Jones returned to the Braves' lineup on June 10.
  Jones hit his 460th home run off Trevor Cahill of the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 27, 2012, putting Jones in 33rd position on the list of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters. Jones is also in 33rd position on the list of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders, passing Lou Gehrig's record for doubles during the same series with Arizona on June 29, 2012.
  On July 3, 2012, Jones was named to the NL All-Star team as a replacement for the injured Matt Kemp. That same day, he had his third career five-hit game and the first since 2002. He made it known that he wished the National League would win the All-Star game in his pregame address to his NL teammates:
  We got an opportunity to [continue the NL winning streak]. And I am not going out losing my last one...
  — Chipper Jones
  During the All-Star game (the only time in his 19-year career that he played in Kansas City), Jones hit a single into right field at his first (and only) at bat during the game, and the National League won 8–0. At the All-Star Game break after July 8, Jones was hitting .318 with 6 home runs and 33 RBIs.
  On August 16, 2012, Jones hit two home runs and collected his 2,700th hit. On September 12, 2012, Jones recorded his 1,500th walk in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the first switch hitter in Major League Baseball history to obtain at least 2,500 hits, 1,500 RBIs, 1,500 runs and 1,500 walks. Jones also joined Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig as the only players in Major League history to record at least 2,500 hits, 1,500 walks, 1,500 runs, 500 doubles, 450 home runs, and 1,500 RBIs while hitting .300 with a .400 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage.
  Jones ended his career hitting over .300 from each side of home plate. Among switch-hitters with at least 5,000 career at-bats, the only other player to do so is Frankie Frisch. He and Mickey Mantle are the only two switch-hitters in MLB history to have an on-base percentage of .400, slugging percentage of .500, and 400 homers in their careers. Jones also has the most RBIs of any player who was primarily a third baseman.
  The final game of his career was the 2012 National League Wild Card Playoff (dubbed the "infield fly rule game" following a controversial call by umpire Sam Holbrook), in which the Braves lost 6–3. In his final at-bat, Jones hit a broken bat single for an infield base hit, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
caption: Jones salutes the crowd at Turner Field prior to his final regular season game
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