10 Career-Defining Chipper Jones Baseball Cards – Instant PC
Chipper Jones is one of the greatest switch-hitters in baseball history, living up to the hype that came with being the No. 1 overall pick in the 1990 draft and serving as a core member of the Atlanta Braves teams during the 1990s and 2000s on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
All told, there are more than 17,000 Chipper Jones cards, according to the Beckett database. So where does one begin putting together a Chipper Jones PC?
These 10 cards serve as an excellent representation of his playing career and footprint on the hobby, making them a great place to start.
1990 Classic Yellow #T92 Chipper Jones
After losing 97 games during the 1989 season, the Atlanta Braves had the No. 1 overall pick in 1990. They used it to select Jones out of The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. The first round of the 1990 draft also included Tony Clark (No. 2), Mike Lieberthal (No. 3), Alex Fernandez (No. 4), Carl Everett (No. 10), Jeromy Burnitz (No. 17), Mike Mussina (No. 20) and Rondell White (No. 24).
The 1990 Classic Yellow product was released as a pre-packaged game with a game board and complete 99-card set. It is one of only two 1990 cards to feature Jones along with the 1990 Classic Draft Picks factory set being the other.
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1991 Topps #333 Chipper Jones RC
In his first full season in the minors in 1991, Jones hit .326/.407/.518 with 24 doubles, 11 triples, 15 home runs, 98 RBI, 104 runs scored and 40 steals in 136 games at Single-A. That immediately turned the 19-year-old into one of the most hyped prospects in baseball.
He has Rookie Cards in the 1991 Bowman, Score, Topps and Upper Deck sets, along with 1991 O-Pee-Chee for the Canadian Topps release and 1991 Topps Micro. His card is far and away the most valuable in the mass-produced 1991 Topps release.
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1992 Bowman #28 Chipper Jones
Jones began the 1992 season at the No. 4 prospect in baseball and he continued to impress while climbing the minor league ladder, hitting .311/.360/.504 with 39 doubles, 12 triples, 13 home runs, 73 RBI, 84 runs scored and 24 steals between High-A and Double-A.
While it is not a Rookie Cards, his 1992 Bowman is one of his most sought-after early releases thanks to the iconic nature of the set.
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1993 Donruss #721 Chipper Jones
With his strong showing in 1992, Jones became baseball’s No. 1 prospect for the 1993 season, and after hitting .325/.387/.500 with 31 doubles, 12 triples, 13 home runs and 89 RBI in 139 games at Triple-A he made his MLB debut as a September call-up. He went 2-for-3 with a double over eight games as the youngest player in the majors.
Even two years after his Rookie Cards were released, Jones was still regularly appearing in rookie subsets in 1993 products. His 1993 Donruss card features the “Rated Rookie” logo and is a great early card to pick up for a couple bucks.
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1995 Bowman #262 Chipper Jones FOIL
Expected to compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster in 1994, Jones instead suffered a torn ACL and missed the entire year. However, he returned strong in 1995 and finished runner-up to Hideo Nomo in NL Rookie of the Year voting while posting a 108 OPS+ with 23 home runs and 86 RBI. The Braves would go on to win the World Series that year.
Another low-cost early card, Jones’ 1995 Bowman foil card is a great representation for the year he finally broke through as an everyday player in the big leagues.
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1996 Topps Chrome #52 Chipper Jones
Jones followed up his strong rookie campaign by hitting .309/.393/.530 with 32 doubles, 30 home runs and 110 RBI in a 6.2-WAR season in 1996. That earned him a fourth-place finish in NL MVP voting and immediately vaulted him to superstardom.
A full five years after his first Topps card was released, Jones had the gold Rookie Cup logo on his 1996 Topps card on the heels of his rookie season. I’ve opted for the Topps Chrome version, which comes in the first release of the popular brand.
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1997 Topps Chrome Diamond Duos Refractors #DD1 Chipper Jones / Andruw Jones
Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones were two of the most hyped prospects in baseball history during their time in the minors. Both players successfully lived up to that hype while developing into core members of the Atlanta Braves lineup. The two were teammates in the big leagues from 1996 through the 2007 season.
They are featured together on a number of different cards, but my favorite is the dual-sided 1997 Topps Chrome Duos insert. The base version of the inserts were a 1:36 pack pull, while the Refractor seen was a tough pull at 1:108 packs.
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1999 Ultra Thunderclap #4 Chipper Jones
In 1999, Jones reached the peak of his career, hitting .319/.441/.633 with 41 doubles, 45 home runs, 110 RBI, 116 runs scored and 25 steals to run away with NL MVP honors. He secured 29 of 32 first-place votes and bested Jeff Bagwell and Matt Williams in the balloting.
The Ultra Thunderclap inserts were first released in 1997 and then again in 1999. Jones is one of eight players to appear in both of those sets, along with Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas.
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2008 Topps Stars #TS8 Chipper Jones
At 36-years old, Jones won the NL batting title in 2008, hitting .364/.470/.574 with more walks (90) than strikeouts (61) in 128 games. It was the tenth and final time that he hit .300 over a full season, and he finished his career with a .303 average.
Topps Stars was its own standalone product line during a five-year run from 1997-2001, but the name at least was revisited for a sharp-looking insert set in 2008 Topps Series 2. Cards on the 25-card checklist are found in 1:6 hobby and retail packs.
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2013 Topps Update Variations #US53 Chipper Jones SP
Jones retired after the 2012 season with 2,726 hits, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBI and a .303/.401/.529 line over 19 seasons. He was an eight-time All-Star and racked up 85.3 WAR. From there, it was a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction with 97.2 percent of the vote in 2018.
His short print in the 2013 Topps Update release features a full stat back and is a nice way to cap off his playing career.
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