Chipper Jones

“I think you need to go to Triple-A for a while and experience big league pitching on the way down and prospects who are right on the cusp.”

“I know what pitchers I can do optimum damage against.”

“I think just because of my natural abilities I was good in all other sports. But when it came to baseball season, I wasn't just good in baseball.”

“All you ever want as a baseball player is the respect of your peers, whether it's the people you play against or the people you play with. I can honestly say I have that, and it's probably what I'm most proud of.”

“Baseball was important to me - don't get me wrong. But at the end of my career, it wasn't as important as four or five years before.”

“You hear some of the vulgar things that come out of people's mouths and you realize how anger fuels the whole world.”

“The first day of spring training is like the first day of school.”

“Chipper is one of those first names people remember. Think of Cal, Emmitt, Mickey. You hear those names and you say, 'Those were some of the best to ever play the game.' I'd like to be thought of like that someday.”

“You don't know how many people walk up and go, 'Man, you look familiar - anybody ever tell you you look like Chipper Jones?' And I just kind of look at them without smiling and I say, man, I get that all the time. And a lot of time they'll just kind of walk off.”

“When you flat-out stink the joint up, you have to stand up and say just that.”

“The game is not fun to me when I'm not playing up to my standards.”

“Even when I was a veteran giving advice to the younger guys, my dad was still my hitting coach. He always was.”

“When I was coming up through the minors, the Braves believed in taking their time, letting kids mature - and succeed and fail - at the minor league level.”

“I'm going to lead by example, and when kids have a question I'll answer it.”

“I certainly think I've given people a lot to think about as to whether I'm worthy of standing next to the greats.”

“I'm not proud of some of the things I did to ruin my first marriage. I'm very sorry for hurting the people that I love. But eventually, you have to deal with it and move on.”

“When I was out there on the field I was never nervous. I knew I would have six, eight, nine chances to affect the game.”

“Well, anytime you've struggled at the plate and you're having trouble producing, it's frustrating.”

“I think baseball has such a way of humbling you. You can go 20-for-20, and before you know it, you're going to go through an 0-for-30. It has that way of knocking you back down to earth.”

“Having made a ton of mistakes early on in my life, I hope people can look at me now and say that a guy really turned the corner and he made adjustments in life the same way he did on the baseball field and he's a better man because of it.”