KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The last Superstation superstar walked toward the batter's box, and "Crazy Train" seared through the speakers at Kauffman Stadium. Everyone here wanted to make sure Chipper Jones' night was faultless down to the finest detail, including the walkup music he uses with the Atlanta Braves. Perfection wasn't too much to ask for his final All-Star game.

Chipper Jones is 40. This remains difficult to believe for his peers, the majority of whom grew up watching him on TBS before televisions and computers could beam in every baseball game being played. The Superstation was one of baseball's greatest inventions, late and lamented, because it turned ballplayers like Jones into generational icons. His game was so pure, his name so perfect – Chipper Jones, he of the gorgeous left-handed swing and almost mirror image from the right, of the yo-yoing between third base and the outfield, of one World Series won and too many more lost, of a career now in its twilight and a pair of eyes suddenly welling up at that thought.

They stood tall and strong here, trying to remind everyone what a good crowd they really are, and Kansas City gave a player to whom it has no connection – one who had in fact played in all 29 other major league cities but never here – a standing ovation. And because he is now in his fourth decade and scoffs at that whole myth about crying in baseball, he got a little misty, which was a problem because a 95-mph fastball was about to leave Chris Sale's left hand.

Jones, in his eighth All-Star game, took no time swinging. He squirted a ball to the right side. It eked through. He was 1 for 1. He wouldn't have a second time to ruin perfection.

"At 40 years old, legging out an infield hit in the All-Star game," Jones said. "That's exactly the way I scripted it."

Jones laughed. He runs like a water buffalo these days. His body is practically a junk bond. And still, that swing – it's Walter White's meth in "Breaking Bad," pure and sweet and blue in how it makes pitchers feel.

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Granted, Sale wasn't exactly lamenting becoming Chipper's latest pelt on his farewell tour. He's retiring this offseason, to a life with his four sons and whatever else $150 million can provide, and unless the Braves secure a playoff spot, this will represent the highest-profile event of Jones' final season.

"You never like giving up hits," Sale said. "This was awesome. You've got to be remembered somehow."

"It was awesome," said Adam Dunn, Sale's teammate with the White Sox.

"Thanks for the support," Sale said.

Dunn stood at the top of the American League dugout's steps next to Derek Jeter during Jones' at-bat in the sixth inning. The three were teammates during the 2009 World Baseball Classic and represent a triumvirate of well-respected and well-liked veterans, particularly Jones and Jeter, who in almost two decades each have engendered a different sort of esteem. They are dueling Yodas, Jones the folksy hunter, Jeter the grounded bourgeois.

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And so everyone, from 19-year-old Bryce Harper – who wasn't even a year old when Jones debuted – to those on the AL team, wanted Chipper to go out right. His ball toward the right side wasn't hit particularly hard.

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