Retired Major League Baseball player Chipper Jones put himself in hot water recently after his supposed-to-be humorous tweets on immigration policy caught the ire of some of his followers.
Jones, who retired from competitive baseball after spending all 19 years with the Atlanta Braves, made a number of Latinos unhappy after he tweeted a suggestion of putting alligators in the Rio Grande to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the boarders.
"Y'all think if they took all them gators they trap in Fla and La and put them in the Rio Grande, it wud stop the illegals from crossing? Jk," Jones posted on his Twitter account.
Obviously, Jones didn't intend to offend other people's feelings but his remark was enough to create some buzz in the social media. The former Brave slugger received mixed reactions, though mostly questioned the motive of his joke.
"@RealCJ10 I didn't know you were 100% Native American. So your ancestors weren't illegals?," said one of his angry followers.
Jones also caught the attention of Latino Rebels, who warned the former baseball player to be responsible with his tweets next time.
Chipper immediately posted a new entry on his Twitter page, expressing his regret and apology for his 'offensive and distasteful comment.'
"I realize that my tweet yest was offensive and distasteful. An attempt at humor was a terrible mistake. Please accept my heartfelt apology!," tweeted Jones, who's expected to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible.
Jones averaged .303 with 468 home runs and 1,623 RBIs in his stellar baseball career. He was also an eight-time All-Star team member and two-time Silver Slugger winner. He won the National League batting championship in 2008 and his lone MVP title in 1999. He captured his only World Series title in 1995.
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