David Jefferson Jones

Davy Jones (June 30, 1880 - March 30, 1972) was a Major League Baseball player during the early part of the 20th century. He was an outfielder who played for the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers among other teams. Jones' main claim to fame was playing with some of the early legends of the game including Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Frank Chance and Three Finger Brown. Additionally, Jones was immortalized in the book, The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter. Also, he played for one year with the Chicago White Sox where several of his teammates would later be implicated in the 1919 Black Sox scandel.

Related Topics:
June 30 - 1880 - March 30 - 1972 - Major League Baseball - Outfielder - Chicago Cubs - Detroit Tigers - Ty Cobb - Sam Crawford - Frank Chance - Three Finger Brown - The Glory of Their Times - Chicago White Sox - Black Sox

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Davy Jones was mostly a platoon rather than a full-time player who was decent with the bat and swift on his feet. He played Major League ball from 1901 to 1915 compiling a .270 career average with over 1,000 base hits.

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Jones is also known for recounting a famous story in The Glory of Their Times about the early ballplayer/comedian Germany Schaefer. According to Jones, Schaefer was the only player who ever stole first in a ballgame. The instance evidently took place September 4, 1908 during a Detroit game versus Cleveland. With Davy Jones on third and Shaeffer at first, the double steal was on. But as Germany slid into second base safe, the Cleveland catcher held onto the ball. In order to set up the double-steal again, Schaefer took off screaming for first on the next pitch and dove in headfirst in without a play. This stunned the players, fans and umpires, but it was perfectly legal. On the next pitch, the double steal worked.

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