Gordon Jones (baseball)

Gordon Jones
Pitcher
Born: April 2, 1930(1930-04-02) Portland, Oregon
Died: April 25, 1994(1994-04-25) (aged 64) Lodi, California
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 6, 1954 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
September 11, 1965 for the Houston Astros
Career statistics
Win-Loss record	15-18
Earned run average	4.14
Innings pitched	378⅔
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (1954–1956) New York/San Francisco Giants (1957–1959) Baltimore Orioles (1960–1961) Kansas City Athletics (1962) Houston Colt .45s/Astros (1964–1965)

Gordon Bassett Jones (April 2, 1930 — April 25, 1994) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. The 6 feet (1.8 m), 190 pounds (86 kg) right-hander was a native of Portland, Oregon. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before the 1949 season, and played for the Cardinals (1954–1956), New York Giants (1957), San Francisco Giants (1958–1959), Baltimore Orioles (1960–1961), Kansas City Athletics (1962), Houston Colt .45s (1964), and Houston Astros (1965).

Jones made his major league debut on August 6, 1954, starting game 1 of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. The Cardinals lost by a score of 7-3. His rookie year of 1954 turned out to be his most successful season, as he was 4-4 with an earned run average of 2.00. Jones pitched two shutouts (August 25 against the Pirates and September 18 against the Milwaukee Braves) and allowed 18 earned runs in 81 innings.

In 1955 he started in 9 of his 15 appearances for St. Louis, but with much less success. His record was 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA. After that season, he pitched almost exclusively in relief. His best season after 1954 was for the original San Francisco Giants of 1958, going 3-1 with a 2.37 ERA in 11 games.

Career totals for 171 games include a record of 15-18, 21 games started, 4 complete games, 2 shutouts, 63 games finished, 12 saves, and an ERA of 4.16. He had exceptional control during his MLB career, with a strikeout to walk ratio of almost 2-to-1, exceptional for his era. He walked only 120 batters in 378.2 innings for a BB/9IP of 2.85.

Jones handled 72 of 74 chances successfully for a fielding percentage of .973, and participating in 4 double plays. He made no errors during his last six major league seasons (119 games).

Trivia

• Jones led the California League with 200 strikeouts while playing for the Fresno Cardinals in 1950.

References

• 1955 Baseball Register published by The Sporting News

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Retrosheet

Preceded by Howie Pollet

Houston Astros pitching coach 1966–1967

Succeeded by Jim Owens

Persondata
Name	Jones, Gordon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 2, 1930
Place of birth	Portland, Oregon
Date of death	April 25, 1994
Place of death	Lodi, California