Dalton Jones
Dalton Jones | |
---|---|
Infielder | |
Born: McComb, Mississippi, U.S. | December 10, 1943|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 17, 1964, for the Boston Red Sox | |
Last MLB appearance | |
October 4, 1972, for the Texas Rangers | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .235 |
Home runs | 41 |
Runs batted in | 237 |
Teams | |
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James Dalton Jones (born December 10, 1943) is an American former baseball player who played nine seasons in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1969), Detroit Tigers (1970–1972), and Texas Rangers (1972).[1]
Biography
Born in
Jones was a highly recruited prospect while playing at Baton Rouge High School.[2] To gain the edge in recruiting, the Red Sox involved Jones' boyhood hero Ted Williams in the effort, and Jones ended up signing with Boston.[3]
The Red Sox
Dalton played for the Red Sox from 1964 to 1969. He had his best season in 1967, the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season. Dalton led the American League with 13 pinch hits and had a career-high .289 batting average. He also had several key hits for the Red Sox during the pennant drive. On September 18, 1967, he hit a 10th-inning home run in Detroit to beat the Tigers. In the last two games of the season, Jones went 3-for-5 and scored the game-winning run in the final regular season game. Jones also gave a tremendous performance in the 1967 World Series. He was Boston's starting third baseman in Games 1–4 and served as a pinch hitter in two other games. He was 7-for-18 with a .389 batting average and .421 on-base percentage in the World Series—second only to Carl Yastrzemski (who hit .400 for the Series) among the Red Sox.
Detroit Tigers
Jones was traded to the Detroit Tigers before the 1970 season. He played two seasons with the Tigers. On July 9, 1970, Jones hit a towering fly ball into the right field upper deck in Detroit with the bases loaded. What should have been a grand slam ended up being a three-RBI single, as Jones passed teammate Don Wert between first and second base. Jones was called out but the three baserunners scored. Interviewed in July 2006, Jones blamed Wert for the embarrassing incident that Jones is now best remembered for. The ball was a towering fly ball, which may or may not have had the distance to make it into the right field overhang at old Tiger Stadium. Jones felt that Wert should have been halfway to second base, prepared to advance if it was a home run, and prepared to return to first if it was caught. Instead, Jones recalled that Wert was returning to first to tag up. Jones says he was already at first when the ball landed in the upper deck, and he passed Wert just 1 or 2 steps past first base. [1]
Texas Rangers
Jones' major league career ended in 1972 with the Texas Rangers managed by his boyhood hero, Ted Williams, who had helped scout and sign Jones for the Red Sox when Jones was a high school senior.
Peninsula Whips
In 1973, Jones played with the
After his playing career ended, Jones worked for a time at a bank and spent five years working for Exxon.
References
- ^ "Dalton Jones Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-1353-6.
- ^ admin. "Dalton Jones – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ My World Series Hangover, by Bernie Carbo, Christianity Today, November 2020, p. 103.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
- BaseballLibrary.com
- Audio of July 2006 Interview of Dalton Jones