A Career That Defined Dedication

Today, the term loyalty is a diminishing, if not almost impossible trait to find.  Many people take the important everyday things in life for granted, such as their own personal relationships as well as their weekly day-to-day jobs.  For instance, the trend between many couples today is not showing complete loyalty to their spouse.  On the job employees tend to slack off and not show up on days they are supposed to.  Complete and total devotion to a person or thing is truly a wonderful moral to have.  One individual that stands out as being the epitome of loyalty is the Atlanta Braves’ third baseman Chipper Jones.  Chipper displays dedication in numerous ways.

One way Jones displays dedication is by his inability to use performance enhancing drugs.  The game of baseball has been infected with players using illegal substances to better strengthen and boost their own playing ability.  Careers have ended in turmoil and records have been voided due to the abuse that drugs have had on professional baseball players.  Even though it is frowned upon, top notched skilled players still put their own careers and lives on the line to use these illicit drugs.  Chipper Jones is a prime example of how hard work is the ultimate way a player can become the best at what they do without the use of addictive narcotics.

Another way that Chipper Jones displays pure devotion is through his charity organizations.  Since Jones began his baseball career he has always remained humble and is never self-centered.  In 2006, he started the Chipper Jones Family Foundation which has given money back to the community in so many ways like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and  the Boys and Girls Club.  Also, the Field of Dreams Foundation has benefited the area youth baseball organization to renovate old damaged baseball fields for young ball players. Included in the Chipper Jones Family Foundation a side business called Take Em’ Deep Program they along with other businesses contribute to other organizations and charities every time Chipper hits a homerun.

A truly impressive way that Jones represents dedication is through his unfailing commitment to his Atlanta Braves baseball team. Chipper continued to stay with his same team for nineteen seasons, which is not likely for most baseball players, they tend to switch teams two or three times.  Larry Wayne “Chipper” Jones Jr. joined the ball club in 1999, and has stood by the franchise ever since.  Through the crushing heartache and glorious triumphs, Chipper’s unfaltering commitment to his team regardless of wins and losses has stood fast and never wavered.  To be entirely fixed on one team for such a lengthy period of time is just unheard of in baseball.  Both money and a teams leadership causes players to trade to other organizations normally several times over.  In his time with the Braves, he managed to become one of the greatest players in braves history. In Salute to Chipper Jones, Adam Rubin states, “ Chipper Jones was second in all batting categories in Atlanta Braves history to Hank Aaron.” Chipper Jones never second guessed nor gave up on a team that would ultimately define him as both a man and a player forever.

Most individuals find themselves striving to imitate others through their actions and demeanors in order to get a sense of what a person is actually like.  A man that is the quintessence of being loyal and dedicated to something would have to be none other than Chipper Jones.  From his ability to exclude performance enhancing drugs, to charity organizations that have shaped lives, and even to his ultimate commitment to the Atlanta Braves, Larry Wayne “Chipper” Jones Jr.’s legacy will forever be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball and someone who truly understands and lives by the meaning of dedication. photo credit: SD Dirk via photopin cc