Chipper Jones Hits 400 (Home Runs)

· Steele: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-an-extraordinary-man-of-principle-and-conviction/">Man of Conviction | <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/hank-greenberg-could-relate-to-flood/">Greenberg Relates
· Moore: Flood's Peers Owe Him Apology
· Blackistone: <a href="http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/">Cooperstown Should Open Doors
· Fletcher: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-a-hero-to-todays-players-those-who-know-his-name/">Modern Players Know Little of Flood
· Stradley: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/for-curt-flood-antitrust-meant-exactly-that-at-supreme-court/">Antitrust Meant Just That

For all the talk about Chipper Jones possibly hitting at a .400 clip for an entire season (an unlikely possibility despite all the media attention and the way he's playing), it's pretty awesome in a somewhat ironic way that he hit his 400th home run this season, taterjacking a shot of Ricky Nolasco in the sixth inning Thursday night.

He is only the third switch hitter in the history of baseball (Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle being the others) to cross the plateau.

'Just an awesome all-around night,' Jones said after becoming the 43rd player in the 400-homer club, doing it in style amidst a four-hit performance that raised his major league-leading batting average to a startling .418.

'I guess I've seen every single one of them,' said Braves manager Bobby Cox, the only manager Jones has played for during a 15-year career. 'He's one great player. Four hits tonight with a home run. ...'

Besides being an understatement by Cox, that first sentence points out just how much Larry means to the Atlanta organization. He was there for the resurgent Braves teams of the 1990's and along with John Smoltz, remains one of the biggest reasons why the Braves dominated their division for 14 straight years.

One fascinating "statistic" from the AJC is that in his 15 year career for Atlanta, Chipper has taken only two curtain calls the entire time, the first in 1999 and the second tonight. That's pretty indicative of -- beside Jones' approach to the game -- how synonymous he is with Atlanta baseball and how much his place in that lineup may even be taken for granted.