072818 Bobby Cox quotes on Chipper Jones

The Atlanta Braves relied on brilliant pitching to win 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005, and they've been a dominant presence during Hall of Fame induction weekend in recent years. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz rolled into Cooperstown in 2014 and '15. They were accompanied by John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox … the suspendered architect and tobacco-juice-spitting manager, respectively, who oversaw the whole arrangement.

Now a hitter joins them. Third baseman Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. will become the first position player from Atlanta's glory years to be honored with a plaque in Cooperstown.

Jones, 45, has maintained his ties to the Braves' organization as a special assistant to baseball operations.

"He was a shortstop when he came up, and he threw the ball away a lot. We wanted him to play a little bit of short, just to find out. Why not? But he's 6-feet-4, and he had the prototype body for third base written all over him.

"His arm from third was as accurate as a guy like Graig Nettles. And Chipper could come in on a ball like Brooks Robinson. That topped ball in front of the plate, he made that play look easy. He never missed."

"Chipper still comes around a lot. He's with us in spring training, and the players love him. It's a spark, no doubt about that. I should get some film of him and Andruw Jones and show it to all the minor leaguers so they can see how those guys played the game. There was never any showboating or pimping. I can honestly say, as good as Chipper and Andruw were, they could have done a lot of other stuff. But they did it right."

- Bobby Cox