Mack Jones

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#af0039
bgcolor2=#0f437c
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Mack Jones


position=Outfielder
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=November 6, 1938
deathdate=death date and age|2004|6|8|1938|11|6
debutdate=July 13
debutyear=by|1961
debutteam=Milwaukee Braves
finaldate=July 1
finalyear=by|1971
finalteam=Montreal Expos
stat1label=AVG
stat1value=.252
stat2label=HR
stat2value=133
stat3label=RBI
stat3value=415
teams=
*Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (by|1961-by|1967)
*Cincinnati Reds (by|1968)
*Montreal Expos (by|1969-by|1971)
highlights=
*Hit 31 home runs in 1965

Mack Jones (November 6, 1938 – June 8, 2004), nicknamed "Mack The Knife" [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_2_64/ai_n12415299|title=Deaths of former major league players, managers, club executives, scouts, umpires and writers: from January 25, 2004 through January 21, 2005|accessdate=2007-06-24|date=March-April 2005|publisher=Baseball Digest] , 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.Fact|date=September 2007

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 cite web">url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/expos/top10.html#1|title=Top 10 Expos Moments|accessdate=2007-10-24|date=September 29, 2004|]

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.

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.

ee also

* Top 500 home run hitters of all time
* Montreal Expos all-time roster

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jonesma01.shtml Baseball Reference (statistics and analysis)]
* [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04140MON1969.htm Retrosheet (box score and play-by-play of the April 14, 1969 game) ]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8902086 Mack Jones at Find-A-Grave]