Sheldon Leslie "Available" Jones (February 2, 1922 – April 18, 1991) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player, a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played in the Major Leagues from 1946 through 1953 for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, Boston Braves and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He earned his nickname from a character in the

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbilly, hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written a ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

and because of his durability as both a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

and a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

early in his MLB career as a member of the Giants. The native of

Tecumseh, Nebraska Tecumseh is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,677 at the 2010 census. History Tecumseh was originally called Frances, and under the latter name was established in 1856. The label o ...

, stood tall and weighed . Jones' professional career began in 1941 and was interrupted by three years of service (1943–45) in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during World War II. When he returned to baseball after the war, he posted back-to-back stellar seasons in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

, winning 32 of 44 decisions in 1946–47 before his permanent recall to the Giants. In 1948, Jones appeared in 55

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

(fourth that season among

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

pitchers), 21 as a starter and 34 in relief, worked in 201

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

, and won 16 of 24 decisions, with five saves and eight

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s, while posting a

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 3.35. The following year, 1949, Jones was mostly a starter (27 of his 42 games). He appeared in 207 innings, won 15, lost 12, and had 11 complete games. He registered no saves, but still finished nine games, and lowered his ERA to 3.34. Finally, in 1950, Jones worked in 40 games, 28 as a starter. He logged 199 innings, 11 more complete games and two saves. He posted a losing record (13–16) and a 4.61 ERA. Jones pitched one more season in New York as a member of the 1951 National League pennant winners. In the 1951 World Series, Jones appeared in two contests and saved Game 3 for Giants' starter

Jim Hearn James Tolbert Hearn (April 11, 1921 – June 10, 1998) was an American professional baseball player, a pitcher in Major League Baseball for 13 seasons (1947–59). The right-hander was listed as tall and . Career Born in Atlanta, Hearn attended ...

. In World Series play, he allowed one run in 4 innings pitched, posting an earned run average of 2.08, against the eventual champion

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. Jones wrapped up his MLB career with 61 games played, mostly in relief, for the Braves and Cubs. All told he surrendered 909 hits and 413

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

(and amassed the same number of

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

) in 920 innings pitched during his Major League tenure. Of his 260 games pitched, 101 were as a starter and 159 came in relief. He finished with 12 saves.

References

External links

SABR biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Sheldon 1922 births 1991 deaths Baseball players from Nebraska Boston Braves players Chicago Cubs players Fort Smith Giants players Jacksonville Tars players Jersey City Giants players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Giants (NL) players Oklahoma City Indians players People from Tecumseh, Nebraska Salina Millers players Springfield Cubs players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II