Jones has people thinking .400
ATLANTA – Bobby Doerr had the best seat in the house for the last player to hit .400, and he was still around as a coach when the most enduring run at the hallowed mark came up short.
Now, from his home in Oregon, the oldest living player in the Baseball Hall of Fame is rooting for Chipper Jones.
“I hope he can go ahead and do it,” the 90-year-old Doerr said, reached by phone between fishing trips. “That would be good for baseball.”
The Atlanta Braves third baseman is off to the best start of his career, going 1 for 3 in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia to finish the day with a staggering .420 average.
But it’s only June, so Jones refuses to get too excited.
“I don’t think anybody can do it,” he said bluntly.
Still, the very fact that Jones has made it this far – the deepest into the season anyone has been at .400 in eight seasons – is enough to at least stir the memories of Ted Williams, the last player to average four hits for every 10 at-bats, a milestone that’s stood the test of time for 67 years.
Jones, the son of a coach, was nearly born with a bat in his hand. He knows what he’s up against.
“The simple fact of the matter is that no one has done it in a very, very long time,” he said. “And we’re talking about maybe the greatest hitter ever to step on the field is the one who did it. Man, I just don’t see myself in the same league as him. I really don’t.”
Four-hundred.
Think about it.
In a sport that cherishes numbers, .400 is one that stands like a beacon far off shore – in sight but out of reach, a rare nugget in a Holy Grail of remarkable feats (Cy Young’s 511 wins, Hack Wilson’s 191-RBI season) that supposedly can’t be duplicated in this modern era.
Doerr, a teammate and good friend of Williams, remembers that 1941 season as if it were yesterday. The Splendid Splinter went into the final day with an average that would have rounded up to .400 – though, ahead of his time as always, he didn’t think that was good enough.
(The Elias Sports Bureau says he was right on the mark. It wouldn’t consider .3996, his average going into that last day, to be a .400 season.)
Boston Red Sox manager Joe Cronin gave Williams the option of sitting out a doubleheader at Philadelphia to protect his average. Williams wouldn’t hear of it, deciding to play both games. As any longtime fan of the game can recite by heart, he went 6 of 8 that day, finishing with a .406 average.
“There was no way he was going to sit that out,” Doerr said. “He didn’t want to be a .400 hitter that way.”
Doerr, who was referred to as “the silent captain” of the Red Sox by Williams, provides some insight into the sort of mind it takes to hit .400.
“I fished with Ted. I was with him for years, since he first broke into baseball. We were close friends,” Doerr said. “Anything he did was a challenge. I think Chipper Jones is the same way. He probably has that makeup to handle it better than a lot of players.”
Although the laid-back Jones doesn’t have Williams’ fiery personality, they certainly took the same studious approach onto the field.
Williams was one of the first players to use a lighter bat, and he wouldn’t leave it on the ground in the spring because he feared it would soak up moisture and become slightly heavier.
“He knew half an ounce made a big difference,” Doerr said. “That”s how sharp Ted was. He used to have a scale in the clubhouse to weigh his bats. He would bone them down to get the handle just like he wanted. He was so ahead of everybody on things like that, the little detail things.”
Between at-bats, Jones can often be seen in the dugout thumbing through scouting reports. He always goes to the plate with a purpose.
According to Elias, Jones is the first to be at .400 this late in the season since a pair of players in 2000. Colorado’s Todd Helton stayed there through June 10, while Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox held on until July 20. Both finished with .372 averages to win the batting crowns in their respective leagues.
The highest average since Williams was put up by another Hall of Famer. In 1994, San Diego’s Tony Gwynn was at .394 when a strike ended the season in August.