| Cleon Jones | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Left fielder | |
| Born: (1942-06-24)June 24, 1942 (age 83) Mobile, Alabama, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 14, 1963, for the New York Mets | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 1, 1976, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .281 |
| Home runs | 93 |
| Runs batted in | 524 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Cleon Joseph Jones (born June 24, 1942)[1] is anAmerican former professionalbaseball player. He played inMajor League Baseball as aleft fielder. Jones played most of his career for theNew York Mets and in 1969 caught the final out of the"Miracle Mets"World Series Championship over theBaltimore Orioles.[2]
Jones played football andbaseball at Mobile County Training School inMobile, Alabama, andAlabama A&M University. With the Bulldogs, Jones scored 26touchdowns in nine games.[citation needed] He also played baseball for theGrambling State Tigers ofGrambling State University.[3]
Jones signed with theNew York Mets as an amateurfree agent in 1962.[4] After batting over .300 for both theCarolina League Raleigh Mets andNew York–Penn LeagueAuburn Mets in 1963, Jones received a September call-up to the major league club without having played double or triple A ball. He got twohits in 15 at-bats for a .133batting average during his stint with the New York Mets.
After spending all of 1964 with the triple ABuffalo Bisons, Jones made the Mets out ofspring training and was in the 1965 season opener against theLos Angeles Dodgers.[5] Jones was demoted to Buffalo on May 2 with a .156batting average. He again received a call up to New York that September, and hit his first major leaguehome run on September 22 against thePittsburgh Pirates.[6] He finished the season with a .149 batting average.
Jones was awarded the startingcenter fielder job in 1966, and batted .275 with eight home runs, 57runs batted in (RBIs) and 16stolen bases to finish tied for fourth inNational LeagueRookie of the Year balloting. His batting average dipped to .246 in 1967, and he ended up sharing playing time incenter field withLarry Stahl. Following the season, the Mets acquired Jones' childhood friendTommie Agee from theChicago White Sox. Jones was moved toleft field with the formerGold Glove-winner Agee playing center field.
Jones began the 1968 seasonplatooning withArt Shamsky in left. He was batting .205 on May 18, when he went three for four with a home run, two RBIs and tworuns scored to lift the Mets to a 5–2 victory over theAtlanta Braves.[7] From there, Jones began to hit; perhaps the finest game of his career occurred on July 16 at Connie Mack Stadium inPhiladelphia, when Jones went four for six with three RBIs and a run scored, and played all three outfield positions.[8] He ended the season with a .297 batting average, which was sixth best in the National League.
Jones was batting .341 with ten home runs and 56 RBIs in the first half of 1969 earning the starting left field job for theAll-Star Game. He went two for four with two runs scored in the NL's 9–3 victory.[9] He hit a home run in the first game after the break,[10] and emerged as the hitting star of the surprising Mets, with a team-leading batting average of .340.[11] The Amazins found themselves in second place, five games back of theChicago Cubs in the newly alignedNational League East when theHouston Astros came toShea Stadium for a July 30double header.
After losing the first game 16–3,[12] the Mets were down 7–0 in the third inning of the second game whenJohnny Edwards hit adouble to Jones in left field to make the score 8–0. Mets managerGil Hodges emerged from the dugout, walked pastNolan Ryan on the mound, and walked all the way out to left field. A few minutes later, Hodges walked back to the dugout, with Jones a few paces behind him, and replaced Jones in left withRon Swoboda.[13] Newspapers at the time said Jones suffered a leg injury and he was not in the Mets lineup for several games[14] after July 30. Other reporters opined that Jones was removed for failure to hustle,[15] and still others suggested the effect of Hodges’s decision sent a message to the whole team: that he would not tolerate a lack of effort on his team, not even from its star player.[16]
On August 22, 2009, following pre-game ceremonies honoring the 40th anniversary of the "Miracle Mets", Jones discussed the incident duringSportsNet New York's telecast of that night's game. Jones said Hodges asked him why he did not look good going after a fly ball on the previous play. According to Jones, he pointed down to the water-filled turf. Jones said he reminded Hodges of his leg injury, and that the conditions on the field made it difficult for him to play his best. Jones said Hodges agreed, that he shouldn’t be playing, and they walked off the field together. Jones explained that Hodges was his favorite manager, and that he would never publicly embarrass a player. According to Jones, neither party ever revealed the contents of the conversation. Jones believes that the fear instilled in other players by the incident was the turning point in the season.[17]
The Mets won 38 of their last 50 games, and finished the 1969 season with 100 wins —- eight games better than the second place Cubs.
Jones ended the season with a .340 batting average, which was third in the league behindPete Rose andRoberto Clemente, and was second on the team in home runs, RBIs and runs scored, behind Tommie Agee in all three categories.
Jones batted a stellar .429 in the Mets' three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the1969 National League Championship Series. In game two of the series, Jones went three for five with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs in the Mets' 11–6 victory.[18]
The Mets were heavyunderdogs in the1969 World Series but took a 3–1 series lead. The Orioles were ahead 3–0 in game five when Jones led off the sixth inning.Dave McNally struck Jones in the foot with a pitch, however,home plateumpireLou DiMuro ruled that the ball missed Jones. Gil Hodges emerged from the dugout to argue, and showed DiMuro the shoe-polish smudged ball. DiMuro reversed his call, and awarded Jones first base. The following batter,Donn Clendenon, hit a two-run home run to pull the Mets within a run of Baltimore. THe play was featured in the 2000 movieFrequency
Following anAl Weis solo home run in the seventh to tie the game, Jones led off the eighth inning with a double off the wall that missed being a home run by about 2 ft (0.61 m), and scored on Ron Swoboda's double two batters later. With the Mets leading 5–3 in the ninth inning, Oriolessecond basemanDavey Johnson hit a 2-1 fastball which Jones caught near the warning track to win the World Series.[19]
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Early in the 1970 season, Jones suffered through the worst slump in his career that saw his batting average reach .167 on May 26. His average improved to .251 by the time he began a then-club record 23-game hitting streak on August 25. For the season, he wound up hitting .277. In 1971, Jones was again a .300 hitter, as he was seventh in the league with a .319 batting average.
In 1972, Jones platooned withJohn Milner in left field. He played twenty games atfirst base, but not very well, and endured one of his worst seasons. The following season, Milner was shifted to first with Jones once again in left field.
In the 1973 season opener, Jones had his first career two home run game against thePhiladelphia Phillies.[20] He had his second on September 19, against thePittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a crucial three game series at Shea for first place.[21] The following day, Jones started one of the most memorable plays in Mets history, what has become known as the "Ball on the Wall Play". In the top of the 13th inning, withRichie Zisk on first,Dave Augustine hit what appeared to be a home run over the left field wall. Jones turned to play the ball off the wall and the ball hit the top of the wall and went right into Jones' glove on the fly. He turned and threw to relay manWayne Garrett, who threw home tocatcherRon Hodges to nail Zisk at the plate. Following this miracle play, the Mets won the game in the bottom half of the inning to move within half a game of the first place Pirates.[22] Jones caught fire at the end of the season, hitting six homers in the last ten games of the season to lead the Mets to the pennant. The Mets won the Eastern Division title on the last day of the season with a record of 82-79 but went on to demonstrate that it was no fluke when they upset the"Big Red Machine" in theNational League Championship Series. Jones went three for five with two RBIs and a run scored in the series clincher.[23]
The Mets lost in seven games to theOakland Athletics in the1973 World Series. For his part, Jones batted .286 with a home run in Game 2, and scored one of the four runs the Mets scored in the 12th inning of their Game 2 victory.[24]
Jones suffered a knee injury, and was out on extended spring training when the 1975 season started. At 5:00 a.m. on May 4, Jones was arrested and charged with indecent exposure inSt. Petersburg, Florida. Police officers found him asleep in astation wagon with 21-year-old Sharon Ann Sabol, who was charged with possession ofmarijuana. Jones said he did not know Sabol, but was giving her a ride home in a friend's borrowed station wagon, which ran out of gas, and that he had fallen asleep fully clothed, except for his shoes, waiting for help. Police reported that Jones and Sabol were each asleep nude in the back of the station wagon.[1][25][26] The charges were later dropped, but chairman of the New York MetsM. Donald Grant fined Jones $2,000, four times as much as a Met had ever been assessed before, and forced him to publicly apologize during a press conference held in New York. Jones apologized with his wife Angela, his high school sweetheart, by his side.[27] He and Angela have been married for more than 50 years.
Jones rejoined the Mets on May 27. He was batting .240, mostly as a pinch hitter, when he was released by the Mets on July 18 after an altercation with managerYogi Berra. He was acquired by theChicago White Sox in 1976. He was released 13 games into the season with a .200 batting average, and retired afterwards.
| Seasons | Games | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | Avg. | Slg. | OPS | Fld% |
| 13 | 1213 | 4263 | 565 | 1196 | 183 | 33 | 93 | 524 | 91 | 48 | 360 | 702 | .281 | .404 | .744 | .979 |
Jones earned a reputation as an outfielder with one of the strongest arms in the National League. For his career, he had 64 outfield assists, including ten in 1966 and 1970.
In 1981, Jones was hired by Frank Cashen of the New York Mets to play a key role as a minor-league hitting coach. Jones helped shape the careers of future Met stars, including Kevin Mitchell, who figured prominently in the 1986 World Series Championship.
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Jones was inducted into theNew York Mets Hall of Fame in 1991. His .340 average in 1969 remained a team record untilJohn Olerud batted .354 in 1998. Jones remains among the team's all-time leaders in games played, at bats, and hits.
Jones is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame,[28] and a member of the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame.
In June 2012, Jones was selected as the Mets' "All-Time Leftfielder" by a panel of sports writers and broadcasters, an honor which he said "means a lot to me."
On November 14, 2021, Jones was inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremonial dinner in Troy, New York. His wife of 57 years, Angela, was by his side.
He appeared as himself in a 1999 episode ofEverybody Loves Raymond along with several other members of the 1969 Mets.[29] The hip-hop duoThe High & Mighty mention Jones in their song entitled "B-Boy Document '99."[citation needed]
Men in Black 3 features a scene that re-enacts a few moments of the 1969 World Series, which mentions Jones, and depicts his catching of the fly ball off the bat of Davey Johnson that ended the Fall Classic.[citation needed]
Jones resides in his native Mobile where he and his wife, Angela, refurbish homes of senior residents of theAfricatown section of Mobile.[30]
Jones' autobiographyComing Home: My Amazin' Life with the New York Mets was published in August 2022.
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