Sad Sam Jones: Difference between revisions

{{About|Sam Jones (1892–1966)|Sam Jones (1925–711925–1971)|Sam Jones (baseball)}}

|birth_place=[[Woodsfield, Ohio]], U.S.

|death_place=[[Barnesville, Ohio]], U.S.

'''Samuel Pond''' "'''Sad Sam'''" '''Jones''' (July 26, 1892 – July 6, 1966) was an American professional [[Major League Baseballbaseball]] [[pitcher]] who played in [[Major League Baseball]] with the [[Cleveland Indians]], [[Boston Red Sox]], [[New York Yankees]], [[St. Louis Browns]], [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] and the [[Chicago White Sox]] between 1914 and 1935. Jones batted and threw right-handed. His sharp breaking curveball also earned him the nickname "Horsewhips Sam".

In a 22-year career, Jones compiled a 229–217 record with 1223 [[strikeout]]s and a 3.84 [[earned run average|ERA]] in 3,883 [[innings pitched]]. Jones signed his first professional contract in 1913, with athe minor[[Zanesville leaguePotters|Flood teamSufferers]] in [[Zanesville, Ohio]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-aa010a66|title=Sad Sam Jones Minor League Statistics|website=www.statscrew.com}}</ref> After brief stints with two other minor league teams, Hehe made his major league debut with the Indians in 1914. Before the 1916 season, he was sent to Boston in the same trade that brought [[Tris Speaker]] to Cleveland.

In 1918, Jones joined the Red Sox starting rotation, ending with a 16–5 mark, a career-best 2.25 ERA, and a league-best .762 [[Baseball statistics|winning percentage]]. His most productive season came in 1921, when he posted career-highs in [[win (baseball statistics)|wins]] (23), strikeouts (98) and innings (298.2), and led the league in [[shutouts in baseball|shutout]]s (5). But his most remembered season may have been 1923 as the ace of the Yankees' staff; he posted a 21–8 record with a 3.63 ERA and led his team to their first [[World Series]] title. Jones also [[no-hitter|no-hit]] the [[Philadelphia Athletics]] 2-0 on September 4 at [[Shibe Park]], in a game in which he did not record a [[strikeout]] the entire game. AsOnly oftwo 2014,other pitchers ([[Earl Hamilton]] and [[Ken Holtzman]]) ishave thethrown only othera no-hithitter pitcherwith not to strike out a batter the entire game, doing so for the [[Chicago Cubs]] inno {{mlby|1969}}strikeouts. Jones was 2–1 against the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] in [[1923 World Series|that World Series]], and his crucial [[relief pitcher|relief]] work in the final game of the Series clinched the championship for the Yankees. Like most pitchers of his time, Jones relieved as well as started, and his eight [[save (baseball)|saves]] in 1922 led the league's [[relief pitcher]]s.

==QuotationNickname==

* ''"Bill McGeehan of the New York Herald-Tribune dubbed him Sad Sam because, to him, Jones looked downcast on the field. Jones told Lawrence Ritter that the reason he looked downcast was because, "'I would always wear my cap down real low over my eyes. And the sportswriters were more used to fellows like Waite Hoyt, who'd always wear their caps way up so they wouldn't miss any pretty girls'.".'' – Ed Walton, at Baseball Library [https://web.archive.org/web/20040604015102/http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jones_Sad_Sam.stm]

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[[Category:Washington Senators (1901–601901–1960) players]]

[[Category:Baseball playersPeople from Woodsfield, Ohio]]