Chipper Jones best switch-hitter of his era: batting higher than .300 with goodpower, braves slugger challenges pitchers from both sides of the plate

THE IDEA WAS BORN BEFORE Chipper Jones was, when the "old block" was just a chip himself.

Larry Wayne Jones Sr. was a kid in Baltimore when he fell in love with the switch-hitting Yankee Mickey Mantle. He saw the power Mantle could generate left-handed from the right field bleachers at Memorial Stadium.

"He hit a line drive that went over our head like a rocket," Larry Jones said.

Like Mutt Mantle taught his son, Larry taught his only son Chipper to switch-hit in the backyard in Pierson, Florida. Now, 15 years into his career, Jones is in Mantle territory as one of the best switch-hitters ever.

Through June 1, he was two home runs shy of reaching 400 for his career. He was in line to become only the third switch-hitter to get there after Mantle (536) and Eddie Murray (504).

"When I started switch hitting, no way in a million years would I have ever thought that I would be hitting 400 homers in the big leagues," Chipper Jones said. "I was thinking: steal 30 bases a year, slap the ball and hit .300 from both sides."

Jones, a natural right-hander, became much more than a left-handed slap hitter, one-step closer to first base. The left side is his power side, with more opposite field pop. He hits a homer every 16 at-bats left-handed, every 22 at-bats right-handed.

Jones could become the only switch-hitter with more than 300 home runs to hit .300 for his career. He was hitting .310 for his career through late May. Mantle hit .298, Murray, .287.

"For Chipper to be from one-stoplight Pierson, Florida, mentioned in the same breath as Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray is just beyond anything," said Larry Jones, who has a signed photo of Chipper and Mantle from a 1992 card show. "We're so fortunate as a family to experience what we've experienced."

Larry Jones made sure batting left-handed in the back yard was fun. Chipper would imitate the Dodgers lineup and when Reggie Smith came up--or Mike Scoscia or Kenny Landreaux--he batted left-handed.

"I loved working on it because it was a challenge," Jones said.

He hit one over the hay barn to the family fernery for the first time left-handed at age seven or eight. He homered left-handed in a game at 11 or 12. "Once you do it once, you're hooked," Jones said.

He started switch-hitting regularly at 13, and it was his idea. His dad had one rule: he couldn't go back and hit right-handed when things got tough. Chipper made that commitment, even if his coaches didn't. In the finals of a Babe Ruth tournament, a coach asked if Chipper could hit right-handed.

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"I said no," Larry Jones said. "If he does it once, then in crunch time, he'll want to switch back."

As a pro, the idea struck Jones once. He was a month into rookie ball, after the Braves drafted him No. 1 overall. Coming off a broken hand and struggling to adjust to wood bats, he heard about it from buddies with the Pirates and Expos, who also trained in Bradenton, Florida.

Jones asked his manager if he could hit right-handed to get through the season. His manager obliged. Several days later, after Braves executives Bobby Cox and Paul Snyder came to town, that manager was out of a job.

"I realized that the fact that I was a switch-hitter was what made me so attractive in the draft and to give it up a month into my pro career was really stupid," Jones said.

What he's learned is to maintain it, "it's twice the work" as his father says.

He has two swings, with two sets of needs, and often two different bats. Left-handed he uses a bat one ounce heavier to help generate power.

"I've got a lot more moving parts in my (left-handed) swing," Jones said. "Right-handed things are a lot more simple. It's basically just see it, hit it."

He's done that both ways this year. Through June 1, he was hitting .432 right-handed and .402 left-handed while leading the majors with a .413 average overall. For his career, he holds a batting average of .310 from both the left and right side of the plate.

At age 36, 500 homers is in range, and 3,000 hits isn't all the way out (2,198 and counting).

"When you think of Mickey you think of the home runs," Jones said. "When you think of Eddie Murray you think of the longevity, the runs produced and the 500 homers. I want to be the guy who hit a bunch of homers, drove in a lot of runs, scored a lot of runs, hit for a high average, had a high on-base percentage.

"I want to be the all-around switch-hitter."

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Best Switch-Hitters in Major League History

Here is a list of the top 15 switch-hitters of all time, listed alphabetically

* Roberto Alomar--A great fielding second baseman, Alomar was potent with the bat, hitting .300 for his career with 2,724 hits, 504 doubles, 210 homers, 474 stolen bases, 1,508 runs and 1134 RBI He was more productive from the left side (312) than the right (.268), but he was always a tough out from either side