Sherman Jarvis Jones (February 10, 1935 – February 21, 2007), nicknamed "Roadblock",
/ref> was an American right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who went on to a career in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

politics. He was listed at tall and .

Baseball career

Born in

Winton, North Carolina Winton is a town in and the county seat of Hertford County, North Carolina, United States. It is governed by the Town Council which consists of a Mayor and five Council members. The population was 769 at the 2010 census. History The area eventua ...

, Jones played from

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

and

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

. He appeared in Game 5 of the

1961 World Series The 1961 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees against the N ...

for the Reds against the

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) Am ...

, retiring

Clete Boyer Cletis Leroy "Clete" Boyer (February 9, 1937 – June 4, 2007) was an American professional baseball third baseman — who occasionally played shortstop and second base — in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–57) ...

and

Bud Daley Leavitt Leo "Bud" Daley (October 7, 1932 – October 15, 2024) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1955 to 1964 for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, and New York Yankees. Bio ...

, the only two Yankees he faced. Jones posted a career record of two wins and six losses, with four saves, 53

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s and a 4.73

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 ...

in 48

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

. His 12-year pro career extended from 1953 to 1958 and 1960–65; in addition to his time in the major leagues, Jones played 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 Nort ...

and in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Later life and politics

After leaving baseball, he served in the

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Police Department for 22 years. Jones was later elected to the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state sen ...

from

Wyandotte County Wyandotte County () is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City, with which it shares a unified government. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,245, making it Kansas's fourth-m ...

, serving in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1989 to 1992 and in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 1993 to 2000.

Personal life

Jones married Amelia Buchanan on December 16, 1956. He died at age 72 at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

Medical Center.

References

External links

1935 births 2007 deaths African-American baseball players Baseball players from North Carolina Major League Baseball pitchers Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cincinnati Reds players Danville Dans players Danville Leafs players Greenville Spinners players Jersey City Jerseys players Leones del Caracas players Muskogee Giants players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Mets players People from Winton, North Carolina Baseball players from Kansas City, Kansas Raleigh Mets players St. Cloud Rox players San Francisco Giants players Sioux City Soos players Syracuse Chiefs players Tacoma Giants players Topeka Hawks players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Democratic Party Kansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Kansas Legislature 20th-century African-American politicians African-American state legislators in Kansas American athlete-politicians 20th-century American sportsmen {{Kansas-politician-stub