You gotta go back to Will Clark, I guess, for the last time a guy had as good a final season as Chipper Jones is having. At least when he knew it was his final season beforehand.
Jones hit two homers last night -- the second of which was his 2,700th career hit -- passing Dave Winfield on the all-time home run list. For the season, Jones is now hitting .315/.391/.519 with 12 homers and 53 RBI at the age of 40. Obviously he doesn’t play every day due to the wonky everything, but that’s amazing production for a guy with one foot in the baseball grave.
As our D.J. Short just pointed out on Twitter, only seven players have posted a higher OPS in a single season past the age of 40 with a minimum of 300 at bats. They are: Moises Alou, Harold Baines, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds, who did it twice, and Ted Williams.
For a guy who has accomplished just about everything in baseball, it’s a nice cherry on top.
