Cleon Jones | |||
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Left fielder | |||
Born: Mobile, Alabama |
August 4, 1942 |||
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MLB debut | |||
September 14, 1963, for the New York Mets | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
May 1, 1976, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .281 | ||
Home runs | 93 | ||
Runs batted in | 524 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Cleon Joseph Jones (born August 4, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder. Jones played most of his career for the New York Mets and in 1969 caught the final out of the "Miracle Mets" World Series Championship over the Baltimore Orioles.
Jones played football and baseball at Mobile County Training School in Mobile, Alabama, and Alabama A&M University. With the Bulldogs, Jones scored 26 touchdowns in nine games. Jones signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1963. After batting over .300 for both the Carolina League Raleigh Mets and New York–Penn League Auburn Mets, Jones received a September call-up to the major league club without having played double or triple A ball. He got two hits in 15 at-bats for a .133 batting average during his stint with the New York Mets.
After spending all of 1964 with the triple A Buffalo Bisons, Jones made the Mets out of Spring training and was in the 1965 season opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jones was demoted to Buffalo on May 2 with a .156 batting average. He again received a call up to New York that September, and hit his first major league home run on September 22 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished the season with a .149 batting average.