Braves third baseman named NL MVP

Jones received 29 of 32 first-place votes and finished with 432 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He also received two second-place votes and one third.

"It's awfully hard to believe,"Jones said. "To have this in your corner, to always be able to say you won an MVP, is a tremendous honor."

Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell was second with one first and 276 points, followed by Arizona third baseman Matt Williams, who had two firsts and 269 points. They were the only players picked on every ballot.

Cincinnati's Greg Vaughn was fourth with 121 points and St. Louis' Mark McGwire was fifth with 115, followed by the New York Mets' Robin Ventura (113), Mike Piazza (109) and Edgardo Alfonzo (88). Chicago's Sammy Sosa was ninth at 87.

Chipper Jones couldn't quite lead Atlanta to the World Series title, but he got a nice consolation prize yesterday when he won the National League MVP Award.

"Matt Williams is one of the guys I try to be like. Just to be in the hunt with him is an honor in itself,'' Jones said. "I didn't have a real good first half. Baggy put together a full year.''

The 27-year-old third baseman became the fifth Brave to win the award, joining Bob Elliott (1947), Hank Aaron (1957), Dale Murphy (1982 and '83) and Terry Pendleton (1991).

Jones hit .319 with 110 RBIs, 116 runs, 25 steals and 126 walks, He finished third in homers behind Mark McGwire (65) and Sammy Sosa (63) and third in walks; fourth in slugging percentage (.633), on-base percentage (.441) and total bases (359); seventh in runs; and 10th in batting.

After June 15, he hit 30 homers and drove in 79 runs.

"The guy picked a great time to get hot,'' teammate Brian Jordan said. "It's a special time in anyone's career when you have the sense you can do no wrong at the plate. He has a lot of confidence.''

Jones gained momentum in September when he homered four times in Atlanta's three-game sweep of the New York Mets.

When the Braves went to Shea Stadium the following week and returned in October for the NL Championship Series, Mets fans taunted him with slow chants of "Lar-ry. Lar-ry,'' his real first name.

"I think those four home runs were huge,'' Jones said. "I'd like to think my name was already on the map before that, but that kind of jump-started everything."

With Andres Galarraga out the entire year and Javy Lopez missing the last two months of the regular season and the postseason, Jones at times seemed like Atlanta's only offense.

PHOTO/AP

11-18-99