What We're Reading Now
Chipper Jones Reminds Us to Slow Down and Make Great Choices
13 June 2017
Allison read Letter to My Younger Self by retired Atlanta Braves third baseman, Chipper Jones, and appreciated his candid reflections about the things he wished he’d known when he was 18. There’s a lesson in this one for all of us.
Tags: allison read, balance, baseball, courage
I love baseball. I especially love the Atlanta Braves, the University of Virginia, and any team my godsons, Jackson and Stuart Barrett, have ever played for. My favorite players are the aforementioned godsons, retired Atlanta Braves players, Hank Aaron and Chipper Jones, and current Brave, Freddie Freeman. (I can't choose just one player for UVA so I'll go with Coach Brian O'Connor who coached us to a College World Series win in 2015.)
During his last year as a Brave in 2012, Chipper started to Tweet, and what he shared was weird, hillarious, poignant, and wise. This was the first indication that the retired Chipper would have a lot of laughter and wisdom to share with the rest of us. I was so grateful in 2012 for what Chipper taught me about how to let go when I'm looking at the unknown, that I had to blog about one of his final interviews. I find myself feeling the same way this afternoon.
Yesterday, Chipper wrote Letter to my Younger Self for The Players Tribune. It’s a missive to his 18-year old self the night after his 1983 prom and the morning his dad said, “The Braves want to sign you with the first pick of the draft.” What follows is a courageously candid retelling of his best and worst moments including an amazing record-busting career, a wise decision to stay away from steroids when everyone else was juicing, poor financial choices as a rookie, and being a terrible, unfaithful husband (his words).
It’s also a story of the power of practice. Do you want to be great at something? Talent is important, but practice is what makes everything possible. When Chipper was learning to be a switch hitter like his dad’s idol, Micky Mantle, he didn’t just bat lefty. “You started doing everything lefty—brushing your teeth, writing, throwing a football. You tried to reprogram your brain.”
In the last few years, I’ve come to adore my godsons’ fabulous friends, too, and none of them will be surprised when I say, “PLEASE READ THIS,” in my most enthusiastic Mama Bling voice. (That’s their name for me.) But I think there might be lessons for the rest of us, too. Chipper’s main message is to slow down, be patient, make good choices, and let the game and life come to you.
My godsons, Stuart Barrett (#29) and Jackson Barrett (#14), and me after the Miller School of Albemarle won the VISAA Division II State Championship
20 May 2017
I’m 44. What would my 70-year old self me tell me today?
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