Former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones has been one of the more outspoken athletes on Twitter over the past year or so, but we may have heard the last of him. On Wednesday morning, Jones announced that he is done tweeting.
No more twitter for me. Said I'd do it for one year and the time is up. Too much hate and too many trolls. Much love to Braves country! Xo
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) August 7, 2013
The timing of the decision is interesting, as Jones was animated in calling out Bryce Harper during Tuesday night’s dust-up between the Braves and Washington Nationals. Chipper apparently thought that Harper admired his home run a bit too much in the third inning, which is why Atlanta pitcher Julio Teheran hit him in the fifth.
Some of the “trolls” Jones is referring to may have come at him after that tweet. In the past, Chipper has encouraged followers to boycott umpires and shared other controversial opinions. He even defended Rutgers coach Mike Rice after Rice was fired for chucking basketballs at his former players and swearing at them.
It will be interesting to see if Chipper sticks to his guns on this. He has sent some tweets in the past that are blatantly aimed at riling up his followers, so he had to have expected some “hate” coming back at him. In any event, he is not the first prominent sports figure to quit Twitter this year and probably won’t be the last.
