Ryan
Care/Prevention of Athletic Injuries
December 10, 2010
Final Paper

The Impact of Chipper Jones’ ACL tear on the Atlanta Braves One of the most well known and successful baseball players in the modern era of Major League Baseball is Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves. Chipper is famous for being one of the best switch hitters of all time, his success in the postseason, and his classy style of playing the game of baseball. He has led the Atlanta Braves franchise to 14 division championships and a World Series in the 1995 season. Ever since his rookie season in 1993, Chipper has been a fan favorite and has been a team leader for the Braves organization. Currently, Chipper is 38 and is nearing the end of his career. Throughout his career, Chipper has sustained several injuries that have plagued him as he has gotten older. This fall, Chipper was in the news a lot because of his injury he sustained during the 2010 Major League Baseball season. Chipper tore his anterior cruciate ligament and could not play the remainder of the season for the Atlanta Braves. The injury to his left knee, the impact that it had on not only himself, but also the Braves team, the Atlanta Braves franchise, and society will be discussed.
This past season, in August, a groundball was hit down the third base line and Chipper fielded the ball and jumped in the air to throw the ball to first. When he landed on his left leg, he twisted his knee and fell to the ground in excruciating pain. According to the Huffington Post, in an interview after the game, Chipper said “I heard a distinct pop.” Team doctors also revealed that his knee had swollen significantly soon after the injury was sustained. According to Chapter 17 of our textbook, “In 80 percent of ACL injuries, individuals experience a popping, snapping, or tearing sensation, and in a similar percentage of cases, individuals note a rapid onset of swelling” (Anderson and Parr). Both the report from Chipper of the popping he heard and the swelling that proceeded after the injury definitely point to a potential ACL tear.
One interesting fact about his history with this injury is that Chipper actually had torn his ACL in 1994 as well. He did not think that this injury felt as bad as the one he had sustained previously and believed that he had just sprained his knee. Chipper had an MRI done on his left knee and it came back showing he had a “partial tear, plus some stretching of the ligament” (The Huffington Post). Obviously, Chipper had surgery on his knee to repair the damaged anterior cruciate ligament so that he could return and play again this upcoming season. ACL injuries in athletic activities usually lead to that individual not being able to compete at the level they had previously competed and potentially to never play the sport again. After Chipper had surgery on his ACL the first time, he came back and had a good season with the Braves and since then has been a great player. However, coming back from a second ACL tear to the same knee will be extremely difficult to overcome. Chipper had a successful surgery on the knee and since then has been going through physical therapy to regain the strength and get the motion back in his left knee. The amount of focus and work that he puts into rehabilitation will determine if Chipper will make a full recovery and be able to contribute and help the Braves with their 2011 season.
Rehabilitation of the knee after surgery on the ACL is important to gain strength back in the knee for daily use and especially important if that individual hopes to perform at the professional level again. Over the past few months and upcoming ones, Chipper is going to have to work on range of motion exercises such as heel slides, knee flexion and passive knee extensions to regain his full range of motion. He will also have to do some strengthening exercises such as calf raises, step-ups, and straight leg raises. Finally, before he fully gets back into the swing of baseball activities, he will have to perform functional activities such as running drills, plyometrics, and balance drills (Anderson and Parr 598). This rehabilitation process will take him about six months to where he can hopefully be ready for the start of spring training for the upcoming season in 2011.
As far as the impact on Chipper himself, the tear to his ACL has been another injury to add to his already long list of injuries in his career. Through the years, he has had excellent seasons cut short due to nagging injuries and season ending ones too. It has to take a toll on an athlete who wants to perform to the best of his ability and help his team out and then sustains an injury; especially an ACL tear. Prior to the 2010 season, Chipper had revealed that this season might be his last season before he retired. The Braves started out with a great season going six games up in their division at the All-Star break. However, once Chipper tore his ACL, the team loaded with young players began to fall apart because their veteran leader was not on the field with them. The Braves barely made the playoffs by attaining the wild card spot, but lost in the first round to the eventual World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants. Most people speculated that Chipper’s career was over and that he would retire after the postseason, however Chipper revealed that he was going to rehabilitate his left knee and try to come back next season to play again. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the injury and if he can come back strong like he did after his first ACL tear.
The Atlanta Braves Franchise was negatively impacted by Jones’ injury. Once he was injured, the Braves began a slow slump in winning games. This was a negative impact on the Braves franchise because not as many people were going to games, thus the franchise and local economy lost a percentage of sales they had been accustomed to all season. As far as short term impacts of the injury, jersey sales of Chipper Jones began to drop and the Braves were losing money due to the decline in sales. Also, ticket sales where dropping as well because without the leadership of Chipper, the team was not performing as well as they had been. Fans were not coming out to watch Braves baseball because they did not want to watch the team lose. In the long run, the fact that the Braves lost the division lead and got the wild card spot meant that they had to play a harder opponent in the first round of the playoffs. This significantly hurt the franchises chances of getting to the World Series. The further a team gets in the playoffs, the more money they are awarded for their success. This led to the Braves not acquiring a potentially big paycheck for getting deep into the playoffs and the loss of potentially more playoff home games in Atlanta where more merchandise and tickets would have been sold.
This injury is not as common in baseball as it is in sports such as football and soccer where there is more cutting and quick turning of direction involved. However, in any sport and at any level, the risk of sustaining an ACL injury is possible. The Braves players were probably more aware of potential injuries that they could sustain after this event happened and I am sure that they paid more attention to performing the correct pre-game warm-ups. Also, many young players who paid attention to this should realize that they have to keep their knees strong and work on strengthening this area of their body so that their chances of sustaining an ACL injury will decrease.
Chipper has always been a big name professional athletes not only in Atlanta but also worldwide. His injury led to the Braves franchise struggling with loss of sales, the team performing at a poor level, a personal damper on his season, and awareness given to other athletes of potential ACL tears. As I have stated earlier, Chipper has fought back from several injuries in his career. If he can come back from this injury and play at the level he has played at over his career, it will not only be a success for Chipper and the Atlanta Braves franchise, but also a feel good comeback story in 2011 sports.

Works Cited
Anderson, Marcia, Gail Parr, and Susan Hall. "Knee Conditions." Foundations of Athletic Training Prevention, Assessment, and Management. Fourth ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009. 598. Print.
Newberry, Paul. "Chipper Jones Injury Could End Career." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. .