The Miami Herald reports that Chipper Jones is making plans to retire next year. The 40-year-old third baseman announced on Thursday that this is going to be his last season at the Atlanta Braves. No declaration has been made about his future career plans, but Jones will most likely continue to work in the baseball field given the numerous achievements he has had throughout his career.

The news that Chipper Jones has decided to retire saddened all his colleagues at the Braves. As a matter of fact, Atlanta has been the only team where Jones played since the beginning of his career in 1993. He is the only baseball player to have taken part in numerous games against the Marlins and hit the largest number of home runs against them. Jones has registered a.299 batting average and 40 home runs during the 236 games he has played against the Marlins since 1995.

Ozzie Guillen, Marlins’ manager, confessed that he considers Chipper Jones to be the most representative player for the Atlanta Braves. In his opinion, Jones’ name is the one that first comes into your mind when you talk about Atlanta Braves and baseball in general. Guillen worked with the Braves during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, so he is sure to say that nobody can perform as well as Jones did during the 1999 Fall Classic.

Chipper Jones explained reporters that he took the decision to retire because he feels old in comparison with his colleagues. He further stated that some of his former colleagues like Ozzie and Robin Ventura are already managing teams and this makes him think about taking another step forward in his career. The third baseman did not specify whether he would like to coach a baseball team in the future or make another career change.

Chipper won numerous prizes since debut in 1993 including the Most Valuable Player Award in 1999 and the National League Silver Slugger Award for third baseman in 1999 and 2000. He also holds Braves team record for his .406 on base percentage.