However, this season hasn’t been as kind to the 37-year-old third baseman. He’s hitting .269 with 16 homers, 64 RBIs and 70 runs. Since the All-Star break, Jones is hitting just .237 in 173 at-bats.

When talking to the Associated Press, Jones strongly hinted that he’d retire after next season if he doesn’t start to play better.

Said Jones to the AP: “If I back up this year with the same kind of year next year, I don’t want to play the game. The game is not fun to me when I’m not playing up to my standards.”

Dealing with nagging injuries, Jones has only one at-bat in the last three games for the Braves. Despite missing arguably their best player, Atlanta has won seven games in a row and now stand just 4.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race. If the Braves can get a strong finish from Jones, that will help their cause this season and for a few years to come.

Is Chipper Jones headed toward retirement (Image: Zuma Press)

Post from: EveryJoe

Chipper Jones Thinking About Retirement

When I first read this story this morning, I thought it was an interesting idea. Another way to market players, which Major League Baseball does do enough of these days. Instead, MLB likes to focus on the team. However, as I looked over it again, I couldn’t pass this one up. In a story on ESPN The Magazine’s Web site, Justin Heckert has written about some wine he had recently at Turner Field’s 755 Club.

The wine is named after Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine and Brian McCann. Heckert sampled the following wines: Chipper Chardonnay, McCann Merlot and Cabernet Glavignon.

All of the wines are created by Charity Wines and Charity Hop, based in Massachusetts. The company has made other wines in the past, such as Vintage Papi (after David Ortiz) and my favorite (based on the name), Caberknuckle (Tim Wakefield).

All of the proceeds from purchasing these wines will go to a charity chosen by the player, which is a good idea. A bottle of this fine wine costs only $13.99 and can be purchased at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and a few other independent stores.

I can’t wait until other MLB teams pick up on this idea. I can see it now. Come out to the ballpark and taste some “A-Rodonnay” or “Zoom Zoom Merlot” (Joel Zumaya). Set up the patents now.

Photo: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Wine named after a few Braves’ players