Cleon Jones

From The Met Wiki

Cleon Jones was an outfielder for the Mets in 1963 and from 1965 to 1975. He had 1188 hits, including 93 home runs, in 1201 games played with the team. Jones had a .281 batting average as a Met.

Jones began his major league career with 36 total games in the 1963 and 1965 seasons. In ’63, he got his first major league run batted in during the Mets’ 13-4 loss at San Francisco on September 22. On the same date in ’65, Cleon hit his first major league home run in a 6-2 Mets loss at Pittsburgh.

In 1966, Jones batted .275 and scored 74 runs in his first full major league season. He led the Mets with a team-record 16 stolen bases for the year. At Shea Stadium on May 6, Cleon hit a home run in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 victory over the Cubs. He had three singles, three RBIs and a stolen base in an 11-4 Mets win over the Giants on May 14 at Shea. At St. Louis on June 22, Jones got a two-run single in the 10th inning to give the Mets a 2-0 win over the Cardinals. He had a run-scoring single and two stolen bases in the Mets’ 2-1 triumph over the Cubs at Shea on July 31. Cleon also hit a two-run homer in a 4-1 Mets victory at Chicago on August 23.

Cleon had 101 hits for 136 total bases in 1967. He had 30 RBIs and led the team with 5 triples. On July 26, Jones drove in five runs with a 2-run homer, two sacrifice flies and an RBI single in the Mets’ 11-5 win at San Francisco. He singled three times and scored twice in a 6-5 Mets triumph over the Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader at Pittsburgh on August 17. Cleon had a two-run single in a 4-2 Mets victory at St. Louis on August 28. He also singled three times in the Mets’ 4-1 triumph on September 29 at Los Angeles.

Jones batted .297 to lead the Mets in 1968. He became the team’s regular left fielder during the year, appearing at the position in 117 of his team-high 147 games played. Against the Astros on June 20, Cleon had a sacrifice fly and a three-run homer in a 5-3 Mets win at Shea. He had another three-run homer and an RBI double at Shea on May 23 in the Mets’ 5-4 triumph over the Dodgers. At Philadelphia on July 6, Jones had four hits and three RBIs in an 11-6 Mets win over the Phillies. He also singled, doubled, tripled and scored the winning run for a 5-4 victory that completed a doubleheader sweep for the Mets at Philadelphia on September 20.

In 1969, Jones was third in the National League with a Mets-record .340 batting average. He had 123 singles, 25 doubles and 16 stolen bases to lead the team in its World Championship season. Cleon homered in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Cubs at Shea on April 27. He hit his only career grand slam during an 8-run eighth inning in a 9-3 Mets triumph over the Braves on May 14 at Shea. Jones hit a clutch two-run double in the ninth to tie a game against the Cubs at Shea on July 8. He later scored the winning run for a 4-3 Mets victory. Cleon also had two singles and a double in the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Dodgers at Shea on August 24.

Also in ’69, Jones was the starting left fielder for the National League in the All-Star Game. He had two-singles and two runs scored in the NL’s 9-3 victory at Washington on July 23.

Cleon batted .429 in the 1969 National League Championship Series. In Game 2 at Atlanta on October 5, he had a single, a double, a home run and three RBIs in the Mets’ 11-6 win over the Braves. Jones also had two hits and a run scored in the Mets’ Series-clinching 7-4 win in Game 3 at Shea on October 6.

In Game 5 of the World Series on October 16, Jones was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning to ignite a Mets comeback that led to a 5-3 win over the Orioles. In the eighth, he doubled and scored to put the Mets ahead to stay. Cleon also caught Davey Johnson’s fly ball in the ninth for the final out of the game to clinch the Series for the Mets.

Jones had 10 home runs and 63 RBIs in 1970. He hit a team-high 8 triples and scored 71 runs during the year. Cleon had three hits in each game of a doubleheader at Shea on May 31. The Mets defeated the Astros, 14-4 and 4-3, to sweep the twinbill. On June 24, he had a pair of two-run singles in a 9-5 Mets victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Chicago. Jones hit the second of three Met homers in the fourth inning in the team’s 6-5 win over the Padres at Shea on July 31. The next day, he hit a three-run homer in a 4-2 Mets win over San Diego.

In ’70, Jones set a Mets record with a 23-game hitting streak. He batted .408 (40-for-98) during this period from August 25 to September 15. Cleon’s streak began with a pair of three-hit games against the Braves at Shea on August 25 and August 26. He extended it to 15 games with two doubles and a triple in a 10-5 Mets win over the Expos at Shea on September 8. Also during the streak, Jones had an RBI triple that gave the Mets a 3-2 win over the Phillies at Shea on September 10.

Cleon led the Mets with 117 singles, 6 triples, 63 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 1971. He also had a team-high .319 batting average and tied Tommie Agee and Ed Kranepool for the club lead in home runs with 14. On April 18, Jones had a single, a homer and three RBIs in the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Pirates at Shea. At Pittsburgh from May 14 to May 16, he had six hits for 14 total bases and four RBIs as the Mets won two of three games. Cleon had an RBI single and a three-run homer in an 8-0 Mets victory over the Expos in a doubleheader nightcap at Shea on July 5. He drove in five runs with a single and two doubles in the Mets' 9-3 win over the Astros on July 24 at Shea. Jones also hit ninth-inning home runs to give the Mets 2-1 victories at Shea over the Padres on August 21 and Dodgers (second game of doubleheader) on August 28.

In 1972, Jones again led the Mets in RBIs with a season total of 52. He had 124 total bases in 106 games played during the year. In a doubleheader against the Cubs at Shea on April 23, Cleon had two singles, a double, a homer and 5 RBIs in the Mets’ 8-2 and 7-6 (in 12 innings) wins. On May 13, he singled three times and scored the only run (driven in by pitcher Buzz Capra) of a 1-0 Mets victory over the Giants at Shea. Jones had two singles, a double and two RBIs in the Mets’ 8-3 win on June 14 at Atlanta. He singled home the winning run in the 18th inning for a 3-2 Mets victory over the Phillies in a doubleheader opener at Shea on August 1. Cleon also had a run-scoring double and a two-run single in the eighth and ninth innings of an 11-8 Mets comeback victory at Houston on September 2.

Jones batted .260 in 92 games played in 1973. He missed the entire month of June with an injury, but still led the Mets with 8 sacrifice flies in the pennant-winning season. In the season opener on April 6, Cleon drove in all the Mets’ runs with two homers in a 3-0 victory over the Phillies at Shea. He singled and scored the winning run in the 19th inning on May 24 as the Mets came out with a 7-3 victory at Los Angeles. Jones had a run-scoring double to become the first player to have 1,000 hits as a Met in the team's 5-1 win over the Pirates on August 2 at Shea. He also singled twice and scored two runs in a 7-1 Mets triumph at San Francisco on August 10.

During the Mets’ drive to the ’73 National League East Division title, Cleon had 6 home runs and 17 RBIs in his final 22 games. Against the Pirates at Shea on September 19, he homered twice and drove in five runs in a 7-3 Mets victory. He homered in the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Cardinals at Shea on September 23. At Chicago on October 1, Jones hit a home run in a 6-4 victory that clinched first place for the Mets.

In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, Jones had three hits and two RBIs as the Mets defeated the Reds, 7-2, at Shea to win the pennant on October 10. In Game 2 of the World Series on October 14, he had a homer, two singles and three runs scored in the Mets’ 10-7 win in 12 innings at Oakland. Cleon had a total of eight hits against the Athletics in the World Series.

Jones had a team-leading 23 doubles in 1974. He batted a team-high .282 and hit 13 home runs during the season. At Los Angeles on April 29 and April 30, Cleon had six hits and five RBIs as the Mets and Dodgers each came away with 8-7 victories in the two games. He had a two-run homer and an RBI double in a 4-0 Mets win over the Cardinals at Shea on June 29. Jones had a run-scoring single and a three-run double in the Mets’ 5-3 win over the Phillies in the first game of a twinbill at Shea on July 4. He hit the third of three consecutive Mets homers in the fifth inning in a 10-2 win at San Diego on July 20. Against the Cardinals on September 11, Cleon hit the last home run of his career in a 4-3 Mets loss to the Cardinals in 25 innings at Shea.

In 1975, Jones was on the disabled list from April 5 to May 27. Four days after his return, he had a double, two singles and an RBI in a 7-2 Mets win over the Padres at Shea. He also got a pinch-hit single for his last hit as a Met in the team’s 4-3 victory at Philadelphia on July 4. Jones was released by the Mets on July 27 and concluded his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1976.

Cleon was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1991.