Doug Jones

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right
6-3, 195lb (190cm, 88kg)
Born: June 24, 1957 in Covina, CA
Draft: Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1978 MLB January Draft-Regular Phase from Central Arizona College (Coolidge, AZ).
High School: Lebanon HS (Lebanon, IN)
Schools: Central Arizona College (Coolidge, AZ), Butler University (Indianapolis, IN)
Debut: April 9, 1982 (14,579th in major league history)
vs. TOR 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 ER
Last Game: September 29, 2000
vs. TEX 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 ER
Full Name: Douglas Reid Jones
Nicknames: Mild Thing
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Nine Players Who Debuted in 1982

Tony Gwynn
Wade Boggs
Julio Franco
Willie McGee
Tony Phillips
Don Mattingly
Frank Viola
Doug Jones
Kevin Bass

Notable Events and Chronology for Doug Jones Career

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June 24, 1988

Cleveland’s Doug Jones celebrates his 31st birthday by saving his 14th game in 14 appearances, breaking the major-league record for consecutive saves set last season by Steve Bedrosian. Jones retires all seven batters he faces to close out the Indians’ 7 – 5 win over the Yankees.

July 4, 1988

As he did yesterday, Mark McGwire belts a 16th-inning homer to give the A’s a 4 – 2 win over Cleveland. Doug Jones pitches three shutout innings for Cleveland, but gets no decision, ending his major league-record streak of 15 consecutive saves.

May 16, 1989

1993 – Doug Drabek drills a home run off Pedro Martinez to beat the Dodgers, 3-2. Drabek picks up his fourth win while Doug Jones gets the save. Earlier, Craig Biggio had tagged Pedro Astacio for a solo shot. 

January 23, 1992

1992 – Houston signs outfielder Pete Incaviglia and reliever Doug Jones as free agents. Jones would become the club MVP that season, leading the team with 11 wins and 36 saves with a 1.85 ERA. He either won or saved over half of Houston’s victories that year. Incaviglia wasn’t too bad either, hitting .266 with 11 homers in part-time duty while tying the club record with seven RBIs in a game against the Giants. 

June 5, 1992

1992 – Jeff Bagwell tags Jeff Brantley with a two-run homer in the ninth to stun the Giants, 5-4. Xavier Hernandez is the surprise winner with Doug Jones notching his 14th save. 

June 20, 1992

1992 – Everyone is talking about the Jones boys as they outpitch Orel Hershiser and Los Angeles, 1-0. Doug Jones picks up the victory after Jimmy Jones scatters six hits over eight frames. Eric Anthony drives home Luis Gonzalez with the only run in the bottom of the ninth. 

June 21, 1992

1992 – Pete Incaviglia slams a two-run shot while Butch Henry and Doug Jones combine to blank the Dodgers for a 2-0 victory. The series sweep sees Los Angeles held scoreless for 24 consecutive innings. Jones notches his 16th save of the season. 

December 2, 1993

1993 – In a pair of transactions, Cleveland signs free agent first baseman Eddie Murray to a four-year contract and the Phillies trade closer Mitch Williams to the Astros in exchange for relievers Doug Jones and Jeff Juden.

December 2, 1993

1993 – Astros deal righthanders Doug Jones and Jeff Juden to Philadelphia for lefthander Mitch Williams. The two closers both falter in their new roles while Juden fails to catch on despite pitching for eight different organizations. 

December 3, 1993

The Phillies trade World Series goat, closer Mitch Williams, to the Astros for pitchers Doug Jones and Jeff Juden. The much-maligned closer, who posted a 20.25 ERA, losing twice in his three Fall Classic appearances, will be best remembered for giving up Joe Carter’s dramatic walk-off home run that clinched the World Championship for Toronto.

June 11, 1995

Lee Smith sets a major league record with a save in his 16th consecutive appearance, pitching a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the Angels’ 5 – 4 victory over the Orioles. Smith breaks the mark of 15 straight set by Doug Jones in 1988.

August 25, 1995

Jose Canseco hits a homer in his 5th straight game to account for Boston’s only score in a 6 – 1 loss to Oakland. Canseco is the 5th Red Sox player to homer in five straight games. Scott Brosius clouts a pair of homers and Doug Jones hands Boston just its 3rd loss in 23 games.

December 10, 1996

The Tigers make their biggest trade since 1957, sending four players to Houston in exchange for five Astros. Detroit C Brad Ausmus, P Jose Lima, lefties C.J. Nitkowski and Trever Miller, and IF Daryle Ward go to the National League for OF Brian Hunter, IF Orlando Miller, and Ps Doug Brocail and Todd Jones, and a player to come later. Brocail, also involved in the 1994 12-player swap between San Diego and Houston, will be Detroit’s Opening Day pitcher in April.

December 10, 1996

Astros swap pitchers Todd Jones and Doug Brocail along with outfielder Brian Hunter and shortstop Orlando Miller to Detroit for pitchers Jose Lima, C.J. Nitkowski and Trever Miller along with catcher Brad Ausmus and first baseman Daryle Ward. Ausmus is the man Houston really wants but Lima and Ward eventually become major contributors. 

July 24, 1998

The Indians trade P Eric Plunk to the Brewers in exchange for P Doug Jones.

September 11, 1999

Facing just one batter, Doug Jones records his 300th career save when he gets the final out in the A’s 5-4 victory over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field. The 42 year-old right-handed reliever, the 11th closer to reach the milestone, will retire at the end of next season with 303 saves.

September 11, 1999

The Athletics defeat the Devil Rays, 5 – 4, as Doug Jones records the 300th save of his career.

September 19, 1999

1999 – Jeff Bagwell slugs a two-run bomb off Rick Croushore to nip the Cardinals, 4-3. Chris Holt holds St. Louis in check except for Mark McGwire, who drills his 57th and 58th homers of the season. Billy Wagner earns his 37th save, breaking the club record set by Doug Jones in 1992. 

Doug Jones

Jones toiled in the minors for close to a decade before making it onto a full-time major-league roster at the age of 30. Though his father was a racecar driver, Jones preferred more leisurely speeds, utilizing slow change-ups and an assortment of other pitches to establish himself as one of the more dependable relievers in the game. Over 14 years of major-league service, he recorded 20-plus saves eight times while playing for seven different teams.
After spending seven years in the Milwaukee Brewers organization battling shoulder problems, Jones signed with the Cleveland Indians as a minor-league free agent in April 1985, and worked his way into the majors by the next year. He made the most out of his limited time from the pen, notching a respectable 2.50 ERA for the Tribe in the final months of the season.

In 1987, Jones came up to the bigs in the second half of the season and came to stay this time. With a new austere attitude befitting a closer, and a new pitch — the circle change — under his belt, he became the Indians’ full-time closer by 1988. He became one of baseball’s elite relievers that year, breaking the Indians record for saves in a season with 37.

Like his name, there was nothing fancy about Jones. He went out to the mound armed with his predictable but tricky changeups and above-average fastball, and got the job done. The mustachioed reliever converted a high percentage of his save opportunities, at one point setting a major league mark by recording saves in 15 consecutive appearances. Between 1988 and 1990, Jones averaged just over 37 saves a year.

After struggling in 1991, Jones wasn’t offered a contract for the next season, but signed with the Houston Astros in January 1992. In the Astrodome, the closer made the Tribe pay for their hasty dismissal of him with his best season, notching 36 saves with a 1.85 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 111 2/3 innings. He also came in second to Lee Smith by just one point in the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award voting.

His ERA ballooned by almost three runs the next year, and the Astros traded him along with Jeff Juden to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Mitch Williams in December 1993. Jones redeemed himself in 1994, recording 27 saves with a 2.17 ERA, and the win at the All-Star Game, his fifth appearance at the Midsummer Classic. At the end of the season, Philadelphia opted not to sign him to a multi-year contract, and Jones left as a free agent.

Thus started the rent-a-fireman portion of Jones’ career. As he traveled from the Phillies to the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Brewers, back to the Indians, and finally to the Oakland Athletics, Jones and his slow changeups succeeded in varying degrees. With each team, Jones showed glimpses of his reliability, but poor outings often relegated him to middle relief.

He did have one more stellar season in Milwaukee, where he posted 36 saves and a 2.02 ERA in 1997; however, much as they did from 1992 to 1993, Jones’ stats ballooned the following year. His ERA increased up by three as his save total decreased by 24.

As a setup man for Billy Taylor with the A’s, Jones had one last shot to establish himself as a closer when Taylor was traded to the New York Mets mid-season. But after blowing a couple of saves in August, he lost the job to Jason Isringhausen in September 1999.

After one more year out of the pen for the A’s, Jones retired with 303 saves on December 7, 2000 at the ripe age of 43. He candidly admitted that he “was ready to retire last year…or five years ago.”

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