There have certainly been some umpires that did not exactly endear themselves to the Atlanta Braves over the years. Eric Gregg famously called one of the worst games ever against the Braves back in 1997 during the NLCS and then there was, of course, the “infield fly game” during the 2012 playoffs that etched umpire Sam Holbrook’s name on Atlanta’s enemies list. However, it wasn’t until recently that the beef between Braves Hall of Famer Chipper Jones and umpire Doug Eddings.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Chipper may have some strong feelings about umpires given, well, his entire demeanor and his willingness to say almost anything that pops in his head. As for Eddings, he has long been known to have one of the biggest strike zones in all of baseball and for having a quick trigger for anyone who questions him.
As it turns out, Jones still has some hard feelings towards Eddings despite not playing since 2012 and made his feelings known on social media.
Not only one of the worst umpires in the league for going on 2 decades…..but consistently one of the most confrontational. Toxic combination! https://t.co/C3CrVLUryU
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) June 8, 2025
Chipper Jones is definitely not a fan of umpire Doug Eddings
It is honestly pretty remarkable for even a former player to put an umpire on blast like this. The clip from Pitching Ninja was obviously rough to watch if you care at all about decent umpiring, but that Chipper took the time to air out his grievances all these years later is pretty wild especially since Eddings wasn’t even umpiring a Braves game here.
However, it could be possible that Jones (and probably others) have been a bit emboldened by the recent trends towards trying to get rid of some of this “questionable” umpiring. Not only has the buffer zone that is used to officially grade umpires shrank, but it is looking more and more likely that the automated balls and strikes challenge system will be in place for the 2026 season. Just like that, the utility of keeping some of these umpires with short fuses around at all doesn’t make that much sense.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem unlikely that Eddings is going to get the Angel Hernandez treatment anytime soon. As annoying as Eddings is, more consistent umpiring offenders like CB Bucknor and Laz Diaz among others probably need to go before he does.
