Mack Jones
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| Mack Jones | ||
|---|---|---|
| Outfielder | ||
| Born: November 6, 1938 | ||
| Died: June 8, 2004 (aged 65) | ||
| Batted: Left | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| July 13, 1961 for the Milwaukee Braves |
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| Final game | ||
| July 1, 1971 for the Montreal Expos |
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| Career statistics | ||
| AVG | .252 | |
| HR | 133 | |
| RBI | 415 | |
| Teams | ||
| Career highlights and awards | ||
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Mack Jones (November 6, 1938 – June 8, 2004), nicknamed "Mack The Knife"[1], was a MLB left fielder who played for the Milwaukee & Atlanta Braves (1961-1967), Cincinnati Reds (1968) and Montreal Expos (1969-1971). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Jones was signed by the Milwaukee Braves as a non-draft amateur agent in 1958. In his major-league debut, on July 13, 1961, Jones tied a "modern" (post-1900) National League record by collecting four hits, (three singles and a double) in his first game.[citation needed]
Jones' most productive season came in 1965, when he batted .262 with 31 home runs and 75 runs batted in. Jones teamed up that year with Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou and Gene Oliver, as the Braves set a National League record with six 20-home run hitters in one season. When the Braves moved to Jones' native Atlanta in 1966, he hit 23 homers despite a shoulder injury. In 1967, he was traded to Cincinnati.
In the 1968 baseball expansion draft, Jones was the second player selected by the Montreal Expos (the fourth pick overall), behind Manny Mota.
On April 8, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, playing the Mets, history was made. Jones, along with Don Hahn and Rusty Staub, took the outfield in the bottom of the first inning for the first-day Expos. The trio made up the Expos' first outfield in Montreal franchise history; Jones played left field for the Expos, Hahn was the first Expo ever to play center field and Staub to ever play right field.
Six days later, on April 14, 1969, Jones hit a three-run home run and two-run triple in the Expos' first home victory as a franchise, an 8-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Jarry Park. Jones finished that season with a career-high .270 batting average, 22 homers and 79 runs batted in. So popular was Jones in Montreal that the left-field bleachers in Jarry Park were nicknamed "Jonesville." [2]
In an 11-year career, Jones was a .252 hitter with 133 home runs, 415 RBI, 485 runs, 132 doubles, 31 triples, and 65 stolen bases in 1002 games.
Mack Jones died in Atlanta from complications with stomach cancer. He was 65 years old.
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[edit] Facts
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- A former Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs outfielder, Mack Jones was inducted into the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame in 2000. He had one of the best seasons ever by a Syracuse baseball player in 1964, when he batted .317 with 15 doubles, 18 triples, 39 home runs and 102 runs batted in. He holds modern-day single-season Syracuse records for runs (111), total bases (337), RBIs, triples and home runs, all set in 1964. Jones was part of a famed Syracuse Chiefs outfield that season that included future major-league stars Wille Horton and Jim Northrup.
- Both Mack Jones and Doug Ault of the Toronto Blue Jays are the only two people to hit the first home runs of their franchise histories outside the United States. Ault achieved the feat with the Blue Jays with the Blue Jays in 1977. Both Ault and Jones died in 2004.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Deaths of former major league players, managers, club executives, scouts, umpires and writers: from January 25, 2004 through January 21, 2005. Baseball Digest (March-April 2005). Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
- ^ Top 10 Expos Moments (September 29, 2004]]). Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
