Robert Walter Jones (December 2, 1889 – August 30, 1964), nicknamed "Ducky", was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player who played professional baseball for 19 years, including nine seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, principally as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, with the Detroit Tigers from 1917 to 1925.

Early years

Jones was born in

Clayton, California Clayton (formerly Clayton's and Claytonville) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 10,897 as of the 2010 census. History In 1857, the town of Clayton was laid out and founded by Joel Henry Clayton (18 ...

, in 1889.

Professional baseball

Minor leagues

Jones began his professional baseball career in 1912 playing for the

Walla Walla Bears The Walla Walla Bears were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, located in Walla Walla, Washington. The Bears were members of the Class A short-season Northwest League and were affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies. ...

in the Western Tri-State League. He moved on to Ogden Canners of the Union Association in 1913, compiling a .315

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in 117 games. He also began the 1914 season with Ogden, batting .366 in 84 games. In August 1914, Jones was acquired by the San Francisco Seals. He played with the Seals starting in 1914 and continuing through the 1916 season.

Detroit Tigers

Jones made his major league debut at age 27 on April 11, 1917. A left-handed batter, he threw right-handed. He appeared in 853 major league games with a .265

, 791 hits and 316 RBIs. As the starting third baseman for the 1921 Detroit Tigers, Jones had his only .300 season, batting .303 for a Detroit team loaded with offensive talent (including Hall of Fame batting champions

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the ...

and

Harry Heilmann Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with ...

). Despite hitting .303, Jones was one of the "weaker" hitters on a team remembered for its record-setting .316 team batting average, still the highest single season average in American League history. Despite the impressive hitting, the 1921 Tigers finished in sixth place, 27 games behind the Yankees. In nine seasons with the Tigers, Jones played 774 games at third base, with the rest at second base and as a pinch-hitter. He held the second-best fielding percentage (.962) among starting third basemen in the 1922 season. Jones also had a 3.60 range factor score in 1922, 0.36 points higher than the league average for third basemen. On May 7, 1923, Jones collected nine assists in a single game, which at the time tied him for the American League record for assists in a game by a third baseman.

Minor leagues

Although his major league career ended in 1925, Jones continued to play in the minor leagues through the 1930 season with the

Mission Reds The Mission Reds were a minor league baseball team located in San Francisco, California, that played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1926 through 1937. First Missions team In early September of 1914, the failed Sacramento Solons team moved ...

of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 1926 and 1927, the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

of the PCL in 1928 and 1929, and the

Reading Keystones The Reading Fightin Phils (also called the Reading Fightins) are a Minor League Baseball team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, playing in the Northeast Division of the Eastern League. The team plays their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Read ...

of the International League in 1930. He compiled a .346 batting average in his final season at age 40.

Later years

In 1964, Jones died at age 74 in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Bob 1889 births 1964 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Baseball players from California Detroit Tigers players Walla Walla Bears players Ogden Canners players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Mission Bells players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Reading Keystones players People from Clayton, California