Joe Jones (baseball)
- For other persons named Joseph Jones, see Joseph Jones
- For other persons named Joey Jones, see Joey Jones
- For other persons named Joe Jones, see Joe Jones
Joseph Carmack Jones (born December 13, 1941 in Lebanon, Tennessee) is a retired American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He spent all or parts of seven seasons in Major League Baseball as a coach for the Kansas City Royals (1987; 1992; 2005) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1997–2000).[1][2]
A second baseman during his active career, Jones stood 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and weighed 155 pounds (70 kg); he threw and batted right-handed. He graduated from Southeastern High School, Detroit, Michigan, and played varsity baseball at the University of Michigan, where he earned a degree in education. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1963 and played for seven seasons in the ChiSox' farm system,[3] appearing in 813 minor league games, with 773 hits in 3,027 at bats for a career batting average of .255.[3] He also pitched one inning for the Tidewater Tides in 1965, giving up one run for an earned run average of 9.00, but was credited with the win.[3] Most of Jones' playing career occurred at the Class A level; he appeared in one game in Triple-A, for the 1967 Indianapolis Indians of the Pacific Coast League, batting five times with one hit, a single.
Jones then served as a minor league manager from 1970 through 1983, leaving the White Sox' organization for the Royals' system in 1979. His managerial record was 629 wins and 545 losses, for a .536 winning percentage in 1,178 games.[3] Twelve of those 14 seasons were spent in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. From 1984–1986, Jones was the Royals' field coordinator of minor league instruction, leading to the first of his three separate terms as a member of Kansas City's Major League coaching staff.
In 1987, Jones served as first-base coach for skippers Billy Gardner and John Wathan, then resumed his former role as field coordinator from 1988 through 1996—a nine-year tenure interrupted by service as interim bench coach in 1992 after Glenn Ezell required emergency surgery to repair an aneurysm.[4] From 1997 through early June 2000, Jones was the first-base coach on the Major League staff of Pirates' manager Gene Lamont, a former colleague from the Royals' organization. But Jones was released, along with third-base coach Jack Lind, on June 5, 2000, during a shakeup of Lamont's top aides.[5]
Jones then returned to the Royals in 2001 as coordinator of instruction, serving for four seasons in that role, until one final MLB term in 2005 as the Royals' first-base coach. He then worked as a special assistant for player development in the Royals' system in 2006–2007.
References
- ↑ Joe Jones coach's page from Retrosheet
- ↑ "Royals All-Time Coaches". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- 1 2 3 4 "Joe Jones". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ↑ Sarasota Herald-Tribune, March 16, 1992
- ↑ Beaver County Times, June 6, 2000
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Joe Jones coach's page from Retrosheet