RIP to Odell Jones, a well-traveled pitcher whose pro career of nearly 20 years included multiple stints at the major-league level. It was reported on Pittsburgh Baseball Now that he died on March 20 at the age of 71. Neither the cause of death nor the location were immediately available. Jones played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1975, 1977-78, 1981), Seattle Mariners (1979), Texas Rangers (1983-84), Baltimore Orioles (1986) and Milwaukee Brewers (1988).
Odell Jones Jr. was born in Tulare, CA, on January 13, 1953. As a little leaguer in Compton, he was part of what may be one of the greatest youth teams ever assembled. Compton won the 1971 Connie Mack World Series, and it featured 10 future major-leaguers on the roster. Along with Jones, there was Eddie Murray, Rick Peters, Chet Lemon, Rick Burleson, Larry Demery, Gary Ward, Ken Landreaux, Dick Davis and Darrell Jackson. Jones attended Compton High and graduated in 1971 after lettering in baseball and water polo. He also played in a youth league that had been organized by former Negro Leagues star Chet Brewer. The Pittsburgh Pirates and scout Dick Cole signed Jones, who made his professional debut in 1972.
Jones debuted for Niagara Falls of the New York-Penn League in 1972 and won 7 of his 11 starts. He won 7 more while pitching for two Class-A teams in 1973 and was invited to the Pirates spring training camp as a non-roster player in 1974. Jones didn’t join Pittsburgh in 1974, but he made some headlines for himself when he threw a no-hitter while pitching for Double-A Thetford Mines on April 29. He struck out 13 Pittsfield batters in the 7-0 win, and The Berkshire Eagle reported that “There wasn’t anything resembling a safety as Jones dominated the scene from beginning to end.”
Jones finished 1974 with an 11-8 record for Thetford Mines, with a 3.24 ERA and 153 strikeouts. He was promoted to the Triple-A Charleston Charlies in 1975 and led the International League by recording 14 victories and striking out 157 batters. He was rewarded with a September promotion to the majors in the fall. Jones made his MLB debut on September 11, 1975, and threw 2 perfect innings against the New York Mets. Almost two weeks went by before he got into another game, but he threw a scoreless inning against Philadelphia on September 24 and struck out Mike Schmidt. Those 3 scoreless innings would be the only ones he would throw in the majors for more than a year.
Jones was compared to another Pirates pitcher, Dock Ellis, both in pitching ability and confidence level. Jones, having succeeded at every level, expected to stick in the majors in 1976. “I would be very upset of they sent me back to Triple-A. There’s nothing I can learn there. But I have to go along with the program. I want to pitch in the major leagues and I’ll just have to wait my turn.” Like Ellis, Jones was not without controversy. He had to leave the Caribbean World Series after police searched his hotel room and found a marijuana cigarette and some pills. Jones pleaded guilty but denied the charges. “They charged me and I had to say what I did to get out of the country. I wasn’t caught with anything.”
Jones was returned to Charleston for 1976 and, thanks to arm troubles that cost him two months of the season, won just 2 games in 16 starts and had an ERA of nearly 5. His prospect status quickly vanished, and his hopes of returning to the majors with Pittsburgh seemed poor until the Pirates traded Doc Medich and Dave Giusti. Even then, it took an injury to Candelaria to give Jones an opportunity to impress manager Chuck Tanner in spring training in 1977. He did so with a string of strong outings and began the season in the Bucs’ bullpen. He earned his first major-league victory against Cincinnati on May 8 by throwing 2 scoreless innings in relief of starter Jerry Reuss. He was moved into the starting rotation for a time, but he didn’t pitch well enough to remain there. During a series of up-and-down performances, Jones tossed his first career complete game against the Mets in August 11. He scattered 5 hits, fanned 5 and nearly had a shutout before pinch-hitter Ron Hodges hit a home run in the eighth inning. He finished the year with a 3-7 record and a 5.08 ERA in 34 games, 15 of which were starts. He had 66 strikeouts and 31 walks in 108 innings. Jones was back in the minors for most of 1978, getting only a September call-up. He made 3 appearances for Pittsburgh but won 2 games — one in relief and one against a start against the Phillies.
The Pirates traded pitchers Jones and Rafael Vasquez and infielder Mario Mendoza to the Seattle Mariners on December 5, 1978, getting pitchers Enrique Romo and Rick Jones and shortstop Tom McMillan in return. In his second start with the Mariners, Jones struck out 11 Oakland Athletics but departed in the eighth inning with a no-decision. Reliever John Montague threw the final 1-2/3 innings and got the win. He also struck out 2 batters, setting a team record with 13 strikeouts in a single game. Jones couldn’t maintain that momentum and lost his first 6 decisions with Seattle. Eventually, he was moved back to the bullpen and ended up with a 3-11 record and a 6.07 ERA in 19 starts and 6 relief outings. He surrendered 16 home runs in 118-2/3 innings. In April of 1980, Seattle sent Jones back to the Pirates for a player to be named later, who ended up being reliever Larry Andersen.
Jones was assigned to Triple-A Portland to start the 1981 season and remained there during the players’ strike. Once August rolled around, Pirates general manager Harding Peterson bolstered the pitching staff by adding Jones and veteran Luis Tiant. Both were surprisingly effective. Jones was 4-5 in 13 games, which included 8 starts, and he had a 3.31 ERA. Peterson credited Jones’ success in part to a new pitch, a changeup. “But I think the biggest reason he’s better is he’s been around longer. He’s played a lot of winter baseball and he’s learned to be more consistent.”
Jones had a career year for Portland in 1982, leading the Pacific Coast League with 16 wins and 172 strikeouts. He was left unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft in December and was selected by the Texas Rangers. He became a special project of new manager Doug Rader, who saw Jones pitching in the PCL in 1982 and wanted him on his team. The Rangers and Jones both were aware that it might be his last chance to stay in the majors, and they agreed that Jones would start the season as a short reliever — something he’d never really done. “[B]ut if that was my job, I’d do it,” Jones said. “I’d go out there and get ready for it. I know I can probably throw every day if it means just going out there for one or two innings.”
The experiment proved to be a great success. The first time Jones took the mound for Texas on April 5, 1983, he got the final two outs against the Chicago White Sox for his first career save. He saved 10 games for the Rangers in 1983 to lead the team. In 42 games, he also won 6 and lost 6, but his 3.09 ERA was the best of all the Rangers relievers. He fanned 50 batters in 67 innings and walked 22. The only downside to his season was an elbow injury that cost him the final six weeks of the season. Jones was examined by Dr. Frank Jobe and was able to rehab his arm to health, narrowly missing Tommy John surgery. He returned to the Rangers in ’84 and was once again a very good reliever. He had a 2-4 record and 3.64 ERA in 33 games, though he saved just 2 games. He also experimented with a submarine delivery for a few games on the suggestion of pitching coach Dick Such. He studied film clips of Dan Quisenberry and had some success with the submarine style, though he didn’t fully adopt it. Jones became a free agent after the season and had embraced his future as a short reliever.
“I like being the guy out there when everything’s on the line. When it’s a pressure situation, as hard as I throw, they don’t have time to figure out what I’m going to do. The advantage is mine,” Jones said in the spring of the year.
Jones signed with the Baltimore Orioles for 1985. He failed to make the team out of spring training and was sent to the minors. The Orioles didn’t bring him to the majors until July 1986; by that point, the 33-year-old was surprised that the call didn’t go to one of the younger prospects like John Habyan or Mike Skinner. “I would pitch a good game, and they would come back and pitch one even better. I was just trying to keep up with the kids,” he said. Jones won his Orioles debut on July 8 with 3 scoreless innings in an 8-4, 13-inning win over Kansas City. He appeared in a total of 21 games for Baltimore and fashioned a 2-2 record. A couple of poor late-season outings raised his ERA to 3.83, but he pitched well overall and went the entire month of August allowing just 1 earned run in 17 innings.
Baltimore released Jones in March of 1987, and he spent a year on Toronto’s Triple-A team in Syracuse. He signed with Milwaukee in 1988 and battled a couple of rookies to win the last pitching spot on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster. “I knew I had a shot; that’s all I ever had,” Jones said. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that when you have a shot, go for it.” Within his first few games, Jones picked up a save with 4 perfect innings of relief work, won 2 games in relief, and enjoyed the best pitching performance of his major-league career.
Jones was given a spot start on May 28 by Brewers manager Tom Trebelhorn. It was his first major-league start since October 4, 1981. He proceeded to mow down the Cleveland Indians, inning after inning. He retired 22 batters in a row until he walked Mel Hall with one out in the eighth inning and took a no-hitter into the ninth before Ron Washington spoiled it with a 1-out single. Trebelhorn took the exhausted starter out of the game and let Dan Plesac record the final 2 outs for the save in the 2-0 win.
“I kept looking at the scoreboard and saying to myself, ‘What am I doing?'” Jones said after the game. When asked if the Hall walk broke his concentration, he replied, “I was too tired to be nervous. After the fifth inning I knew I had a perfect game. I was concentrating hard the whole way. But by the end I was very tired.”
Early on, Jones was the unexpected savior of the Brewers’ pitching staff, which was filled with injuries and underperforming pitchers. He had a 3.45 ERA over the first half of the season but faded with a 5.61 over the second half. Overall, Jones had a 5-0 record in 28 games, and a 4.35 ERA. In 80-2/3 innings, he struck out 48 batters and walked 29. It proved to be his final season in the majors. Jones returned to the Brewers in 1989 but spent the entire year as a swingman in Triple-A Denver.
Jones wasn’t done with baseball, though. He joined the Senior Professional Baseball League’s Fort Myers Sun Sox in 1990, and he must have been one of the only players who went from professional baseball to the Senior League. When that league shuttered, Jones pitched in Mexico in 1991 and 1992 and even returned briefly to Triple-A, pitching in 5 games for the PCL’s Edmonton Trappers. He was 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 5 games, including 2 starts. Those are the final games of his pro career — at least, as far as Baseball Reference is concerned.
Jones pitched in a total of 9 seasons in the major leagues. He had a 24-35 record in 201 games, including 45 starts. His ERA was 4.42 and an ERA+ was 92. He threw 4 complete games and recorded 13 saves. Jones struck out 338 batters and walked 213 in 549-1/3 innings. He also won 116 games across 14 minor-league seasons.
Along with his baseball career in MLB, Jones also was one of the most active pitchers in winter ball. He was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year, in recognition of having played in five Caribbean Series on teams from Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Dominican Republic. According to Beisbol 101, Jones is the all-time Caribbean Series leader in ERA (1.36) and third in games started and was part of the 1997(!) Aguilas Cibaeñas championship team, when he was 44 years old. Jones is one of just 9 American ballplayers in the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.
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