Bobby Jones: 2000 N.L. Champion Mets Pitcher (1993-2000)

Robert Joseph Jones was born on February 10, 1970, in Tom Seaver’s hometown of Fresno, California. There he attended Fresno high, the same high school as Seaver.

The six-foot four right-handed Jones became the Mets first round compensatory pick in the 1991 draft (36th pick overall) when Daryl Strawberry left for free agency. 

The next year he was the AA Eastern League Pitcher of the Year going 12-4 with a 1.88 ERA at Binghamton. In 1993 Jones went 12-10 with a 3.63 ERA in 24 games, at AAA Norfolk getting a call up to the Mets staff that August. 

MLB Debut: The right-handed Bobby Jones made his debut on August 14, 1993, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia beating the Phillies, allowing just one run over six innings. 

He lost his next two decisions, but in his last outing of the season he pitched ten innings of shutout ball against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium. He struck out nine batters, but got no decision, in the 1-0 Mets extra inning win. He finished up the year at 2-4 with a 3.65 ERA. 

Jones would spend eight seasons with New York, putting up some good numbers & pitching some fine games for the Mets during the mid-nineties into the new millennium.

1994:  Jones was one of the Mets top pitchers, second to Bret Saberhagen; winning 12 games with a .632 winning %. He started the third game of the Mets season, with a 4-1 win at Wrigley Field, beating the Cubs. After losing to the Cubs at Shea, he earned two more wins closing out April 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA.

On May 7th he pitched an eight-hit shutout against the Cardinals in St. Louis. He closed out the month with two wins where pitched eight innings in both outings, besting his record to 6-4. 

After a rough June, he ended the strike shortened season with five straight winning decisions from July 1st through August 8th. Throughout the year he had three separate eight inning shutout performances. He was among the league’s top ten in winning percentage (.632%) innings (160) games (24) and ERA (3.15). 

1995: Jones got the Opening Day start in Colorado, taking the 11-9 loss to the Rockies. Jones then won three straight games in May, allowing just two earned runs over 23 innings pitched, recording 12 strike outs.

He was streaky through the rest of the year, having his worst stretch in June into July, when he lost four straight decisions. In September he won two straight games, highlighted by a September 8th, three hit shutout, where he struck out six Montreal Expos at Stade Olymique. 

For the second place ' 95 Mets that went 69-75, Jones led the team in wins (10) ERA (4.19) starts (30) strikeouts (127) losses (10) & earned runs (91). 

1996:  Jones was the Mets Opening Day starter for the second straight year. On Opening Day, he allowed six early runs to the he St. Louis Cardinals getting knocked out by the 4th inning earning no decision in the 7-6 Mets win. 

After losing his next start he won five straight decisions through the end of May.

On May 10th he pitched an eighth inning, four hit 2-0 shutout over the Cubs at Shea Stadium. On May 20th, he tossed a complete game, allowing one run on nine hits to the Dodgers in Los Angeles, striking out seven. In his next start, he beat the Padres & Sean Bergman in a 1-0, eight inning shut out at Shea Stadium to get to 5-1. John Franco earned the save.

He would go 4-4 over the next two months into mid-August. On August 14th he won his tenth game of the year, beating the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. His next start came in San Francisco where he got his 11th victory of the year. At the end of August, the organization fired Dallas Green & hired Bobby Valentine as manager.

Bobby would finish the season at 12-8 second on the staff in wins to Mark Clark. He was the only other starter on the staff to have double figures in wins.

Jones struck out 116 batters with 46 walks in 195 innings pitched, posting a 4.42 ERA with three complete games. Jones gave up a season high 26 HRs on the year. The Mets finished fourth going 71-91.

1997: This would be Jones’ best season, as the Mets finished third going 88-74 in the NL East. He started the third game of the year & pitched eight strong innings, allowing just one run, beating the Padres in San Diego 4-1. 

The Mets moved up the coast to Los Angeles where Jones pitched another eight-inning victory, allowing three runs to the Dodgers. 

NL Pitcher of the Month: A busy April had him go 4-2 into May. From May 5th through June 9th, he won seven straight decisions earning the Pitcher of the Month Award for that May. 

That month he went 5-0 allowing just five earned runs in 39 innings pitched while striking out 21 batters. 

On May 5th in Colorado, he pitched seven innings allowing one run. On May 10th he shut out the Cardinals in St. Louis allowing just two hits while walking three. On May 17th, he extended his scoreless innings streak to 13 as he won his seventh game, beating the Rockies 3-1.

On May 22nd he hit a two run double off Curt Schilling in the Mets eight run 3rd inning in their 10-3 win.

On May 28th he struck out seven Expos, pitching a four hit 7-0 shutout in Montreal. On June 3rd, he won his tenth game if the season, a 2-1 win at Shea Stadium beating Pedro Martinez & the Expos. After his next win, he got to 12-3, becoming the fastest Met pitcher to reach twelve wins. Jones was also posting a 2.22 ERA, best on the Mets staff & one of the best records / ERA in the NL.

1997 All Star: Jones was named to the All-Star team in the game played in Cleveland at Jacobs Field. In the 8th inning he struck out Ken Griffey Jr. & Mark McGwire in the AL's 3-1 win. 

Jones had a rough stretch around the All-Star break, giving up ten runs (six earned on June 25th & then seven runs to the Tigers in Detroit in his last start of the first half. On July 13th he then gave up six runs earning no decision in a 7-6 win over the Braves.

His second half was not as good as his first half going 3-4 to the end of the season. The Mets finished 88-74 in Bobby Valentines first full season at manager. Their first winning season in seven years.

Jones finished the year at 15-9 (9th most wins in the NL) with a 3.63 ERA striking out 125 batters while walking 63 in 193 innings making 30 starts. He threw two complete games & had one shut out. With that shut out, he had four straight seasons of at least one. 

At bat he hit .129 driving in four runs.

1998: Bobby Jones got the Opening Day start from Bobby Valentine in 1998, he pitched six innings of shutout ball against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets bats were shut down by Curt Schilling who tossed eight innings of two hit shutout ball himself. The Mets won the game 1-0 in 14 innings on Alberto Castillo's RBI single.

After starting the year at 13 Jones went on to win five straight games. His inconsistency got him to 7-5 by the All-Star break. 

The rest of the year he would go 2-4 as Jones became the number three man behind Al Leiter & Rick Reed. On the year he went 9-9 with a 4.05 ERA, striking out 115 batters in 195 innings pitched in 30 starts. The Mets just missed out a wild card spot at the end of the season, finishing with an identical 88-74 record from last year. 

Jones then seemed to start slowly fading away as the Mets staff got stronger. 

1999 Mets Wild Card Season: Bobby started out the season pitching seven shutout innings in Florida, allowing five hits in the Mets 6-0 win. 

In his next start he beat the Marlins at Shea Stadium, allowing just a run in seven innings, walking one in the 8-1 Mets win. 

Only Career HR: In that game he hit the only HR of his career connecting off Livan Hernandez in the 5th inning.

On April 17th, he beat the Expos Carl Pavano in a 3-2 win over Montreal. He had allowed just three earned runs in 21 innings in his first three starts posting a 1.29 ERA.

But things turned around badly, after three no decisions he gave up eight runs to the Rockies earning his first loss. On May 17th he gave up seven earned runs & eleven hits to the Brewers in 5.2 innings. 

On May 22nd he only lasted into the 3rd inning, giving up another five runs. Something was wrong as he complained of a dead arm.

An MRI revealed he had strained his rotator cuff & he was placed on the DL, missing over three months of action. He was then sent down to AAA Norfolk for rehab, going 2-2 for the Tides, pitching in four games. 

Jones returned on September 14th pitching three innings of relief, allowing a run to the Rockies in Colorado. He would make two more relief appearances in the regular season. He did not make the post season roster.

Jones would only pitch in 12 games for the 1999 Wild Card Champion Mets going 3-3 with a 5.61 ERA striking out 85 batters walking 49 batters in 59.1 innings.

2000 Mets Pennant Season: In 2000 he started out the year as the Mets number fifth starter on a good pitching staff. That Mets acquired Mike Hampton to go along with Al Leiter, Rick Reed & Glendon Rusch.

He lost his first start of the year, getting shut out by Woody Williams & the Padres 4-0. He made just six starts in the first two months, going 1-1 but had a 9.13 ERA going into June.

In June he lost his first two starts giving up seven runs to Tampa & the AL New York club in the subway series. At 1-3 his ERA was over ten.

On June 23rd he had a good outing, allowing just one run to the Pirates earning his second win. On June 28th he gave up four runs to the Marlins, but the Mets came back with a five-run 6th inning where they sent ten mento the plate, on the way to a 6-5 win.

At the end of July through the end of the season, Jones went on a roll with the help of plenty of run support. He pitched well enough to go 8-1 during that stretch. He did give up 34 earned runs in 79 innings but the Mets scored 74 runs in that time as well.

In August he won three straight beating the Diamondbacks & Astros on the road then the Rockies at home, allowing just two runs in each of those outings. 

He closed out September 3-1 winning his last start of the year on September 28th, giving up one earned run to the Braves in eight innings of work. The previous night the Mets clinched a playoff spot as the NL wild card winner.

Although Jones put up one of the worst ERAs of his career (5.06) & led the team in earned runs allowed (87), he finished the 2000 Mets NL pennant season at 11-6 with 85 strikeouts & 49 walks pitching in 154 innings in 27 starts. That year he gave up 25 HRs.

Trivia: During the season The Mets added the left-handed Bobby Jones to the roster, only to confuse the broadcasters & score cards even more.

2000 Post Season- NLDS: It was in the 2000 that postseason Jones had the finest moments of his career & put up one of the team's best ever pitching performances.

In Game #4 of the NLDS with the Mets leading the series two games to one, Jones threw a one hit shutout beating the San Francisco Giants to advance the Mets to the NLCS for the second year in a row. 

Jones struck out five Giants that night & walked just two. In the 5th inning he gave up a double to Jeff Kent which was the only hit of the night. That was the same inning he allowed the two walks, otherwise he was perfect the rest of the game. Jones retired the last 13 batters on his way to the win.

2000 NLCS: The rest of his post season wasn’t as good. In the NLCS Game #4 at Shea Stadium he allowed six runs in four innings of work, against the St. Louis Cardinals. He earned no decision as the Mets went on to a 10-6 win. 

Mike Piazza homered, Robin Ventura drove in three runs as Todd Zeile, Benny Agbayani & Piazza all drove in three runs.

2000 World Series: In the 2000 Subway Series, he took the 3-2 loss in Game #4 at Shea Stadium. In the 1st inning he gave up a leadoff HR to Derek Jeter. In the 2nd he gave up a triple & a sac fly to make it 2-0. In the 3rd inning another triple then a grounder scored the third run. In five innings of work, he gave up three runs on four hits, striking out three & walking three.

Jones was granted free agency in November 2000, and he signed on with the San Diego Padres.

Mets Career Stats: Jones pitched eight seasons in New York going 74-56 (10th most wins in Mets history)  

He posted a 4.13 ERA with ten complete games & four shut outs.

Jones struck out 714 batters (13th on the Mets all-time list) walking 353 (11th on the Mets all-time list) in 1215 innings of work (10th on the Mets all-time list) over 190 starts (9th on the Mets all-time list). 

On the downside he did give up a lot of hits: 1255 (6th most in Mets history) 137 HRs & 628 runs (5th most in Mets history). 

Post Mets Career: He had a horrible first year in San Diego leading the NL in losses (19) & HRs allowed (37) posting a 5.12 ERA. On September 3rd he was on the losing end of Bud Smith's no hitter losing 4-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. The next season in 2002, he went 7-8 finishing up his playing career at the age of 32. 

Career Stats: In his ten-year career he went 89-83 with a 4.36 ERA, 887 strikeouts & 412 walks in 1518 innings pitched over 245 appearances. He made 241 starts, throwing 11 complete games with four shut outs. 

Trivia: Jones is into cooking & enters many cooking competitions. His specialty is BBQ style, ribs & Brisket. He & a business partner created their own BBQ sauce called Sloppy Jon's. 

Jones also is an avid wine collector & has made his own vintage wines.

Family: Bobby & his wife Kristi have three children. They live in Clovis, California outside of Tom Seaver's hometown of Fresno. 

Jones briefly coached for the Fresno State Bulldogs, at California State university.