Davy Jones (baseball)

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For other persons of the same name, see Davy Jones.

Davy Jones baseball card, 1911

David Jefferson "Davy" Jones (June 30, 1880 – March 30, 1972) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played fifteen seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Browns, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Pittsburgh Rebels. Jones played with some of the early legends of the game, including Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Frank Chance, and Three Finger Brown. Additionally, Jones was immortalized in the book The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter. Also, he played for one year with the Chicago White Sox where several of his teammates would later be implicated in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Born in Cambria, Wisconsin, Davy Jones was mostly a platoon rather than a full-time player who was decent with the bat and swift on his feet. He played in the major leagues from 1901 to 1918, compiling a .270 career batting average with over 1,000 hits. In 1907, he finished second, behind teammate Sam Crawford, in total runs scored with 101.

Jones is also known for recounting a famous story in The Glory of Their Times about the early ballplayer/comedian Germany Schaefer. According to Jones, Schaefer was the only player who ever stole first in a ballgame. The instance evidently took place September 4, 1908 during a Detroit game versus Cleveland. With Davy Jones on third and Schaefer at first, the double steal was on. But as Germany slid into second base safe, the Cleveland catcher held onto the ball. In order to set up the double-steal again, Schaefer took off screaming for first on the next pitch and dove in headfirst in without a play. This stunned the players, fans and umpires, but it was perfectly legal. On the next pitch, the double steal worked.

In the same interview, Jones also mentions how, as the lead off batter for the Detroit Tigers, he was the first hitter to face the great pitcher Walter Johnson.