Charles Wesley Jones (born Benjamin Wesley Rippay on April 30, 1852 – June 6, 1911) was an American

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

in the National Association and

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), ...

who hit 56

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and batted .298 during his twelve-year career. He was born in

Alamance County, North Carolina Alamance County (), from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 18, 2012. is a county in North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 171,415. Its county seat ...

. Charley Wesley “Baby”, “Big Charlie”, “Knight of the Limitless Linen” Jones, who was traded by the

Cincinnati Red Stockings The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867� ...

to the New York Metropolitans for the 1887 season, following a contract dispute. He spent 12 years in the majors, and was perhaps the first "slugger."

Career

Jones played for several teams; the Keokuk Westerns,

Hartford Dark Blues The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. History In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pit ...

, Cincinnati Reds (NL), Chicago White Stockings,

Boston Red Caps The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

(AA),

New York Metropolitans The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York ...

, and

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

. A popular but controversial player, despite his hitting ability he never played for a league champion. On June 10, 1880, Jones became the first big leaguer to hit two homers in the same inning. Both home runs came off Buffalo Bisons' pitcher

Tom Poorman Thomas Iverson Poorman (October 19, 1857 – February 18, 1905) was a Major League Baseball outfielder and pitcher.''The Metropolitans Again Victors'', New York Times, June 16, 1881, Pg. 2. Poorman played in the majors from - for the New York Me ...

in the eighth inning of a 19–3 rout. Jones best period was from 1883 to 1885, when he hit 22 home runs, had 186 RBI, and batted .310. Through the first nine seasons of the major leagues' existence, Jones held the career record for home runs, despite missing two of those seasons (1881–82) as a result of being blackballed from the sport. In 1887, he dropped to fourth place. By 1889, he was just tenth, and by 1890 he was no longer among the top ten. After his playing career concluded, Jones spent two seasons as an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. He umpired 121 games in the Players' League in 1890, and 76 games in the American Association in 1891.

References

External links

, o
RetrosheetMop Up Duty Charley Jones BioNorth Carolina Sports Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Charley 1852 births 1911 deaths Baseball players from North Carolina Major League Baseball left fielders 19th-century baseball players National League home run champions National League RBI champions Keokuk Westerns players Hartford Dark Blues players Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879) players Chicago White Stockings players Boston Red Caps players Cincinnati Red Stockings (AA) players New York Metropolitans players Kansas City Cowboys players People from Alamance County, North Carolina

Career

See also

References

External links