Chipper Jones has a book coming out about his life and career. In it, he talks about meeting with Scott Boras before the 1990 draft, in which Jones would be the number one overall pick. Jones and his family passed on having Boras represent him. Which, hey, a lot of prospects do. Both Boras and Jones ended up doing OK over the past 27 years.
The two of them disagree about how that meeting went, however, with Jones claiming that Boras insulted him and rubbed him the wrong way. Jones says he left the meeting after five minutes, thinking Boras was smug and cocky and claimed Jones would only hit .270 in his career.
Jon Heyman knows Scott Boras well, so he caught up with the super agent to get his side of the story. Short version: according to Boras, Jones has it all wrong. Boras says the meeting lasted a good while and that Boras met with Jones’ parents even longer. He says he told Jones that he was a once-in-a-decade talent and that he didn’t want the Braves, poised to pick him first, to short change him. Ultimately, however, they didn’t see eye to eye and that was that.
Heyman talked to Jones for his story and Jones is not coming off of his version. For what it’s worth, Boras’ version sounds far more plausible and Jones version sounds a lot like a guy who long ago decided that a big part of his personal legend was that he stayed with the Braves his whole career and didn’t think about top-dollar as much as some ballplayers do. Which is fine, but I suspect that it has caused him to misremember an event from back in the day in such a way as so bolster that legend.
Anyway, it’s a great story. Go read it. Especially for Boras’ line about Olive Garden salad. Trust me.