Fielder Jones

[Cowtipper]

Fielder Jones played from 1896 to 1915, hitting .285 with 1920 hits and 359 stolen bases. An outfielder, Jones led the league in singles in 1902 and in sacrifice flies in 1904. His 254 career sacrifice flies are 37th most all time.

Jones is not similar to any Hall of Famers, according to Baseball Reference. The players he is similar to are Clyde Milan, George Burns, Patsy Donovan, Charlie Jamieson, Dummy Hoy, Fred Tenney, Dode Paskert, Tommy Tucker, Kip Selbach and Tom Brown.

Following his playing career, Jones was a successful manager, winning one World Series and finishing with a .540 winning percentage.

Jones received votes for the Hall of Fame in three different elections.

So, what do you think about Fielder Jones? Should he be in the Hall of Fame?

[SamtheBravesFan]

I wonder what number "no" this is...

No.

:D

In all seriousness, it looks like it was mostly downhill from his rookie season.

[Paul Wendt]

Fielder Jones played from 1896 to 1915 . . .

Following his playing career, Jones was a successful manager, winning one World Series and finishing with a .540 winning percentage.
(my emphasis)
Fielder Jones was a major league manager in two stints, a more successful one in Chicago and a less successful stint in St Louis. His only championship or league pennant as field manager was the one the Hitless Wonders won, with Jones the regular centerfielder and one of the star players. In fact he was one of the brightest stars of the American League.

Jones played in the majors from 1896 to 1908 and then walked away, home to Oregon. After some time he worked as a baseball manager (Portland PCL?) and in 1914 he returned to the majors to replace Mordecai Brown for the St Louis Feds. The Sloufeds just missed "worst to first" in 1915, and lost a pennant by the smallest possible final standing. In fact, Baseball-Reference presently lists St Louis first! (1915 Federal League at bb-ref (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/FL_1915.shtml))

1914 and 1915, Jones played in 5 and 7 games with 4 and 6 plate appearances. Thus the "1896-1915" timespan for his major league career.

[jjpm74]

Do you suppose Fielder's parents consulted with a fortune teller when naming their new born son? Talk about a fitting name for someone of Jones' defensive ability. When I first learned of him, I assumed Fielder had to be a nick name; just as many assume Honus is not a nick name for Johannes Peter Wagner.

[SABR Matt]

Fielder Jones' marker card (emphasis on defense here):

Yr Lg Off Def O-M D-M Wins
1906 AL 8.07 4.01 12.3 5.6 12.08
1905 AL 7.00 4.65 9.8 6.8 11.65
1902 AL 7.17 4.31 10.5 6.3 11.48
1904 AL 6.11 4.47 8.2 6.4 10.58
1907 AL 7.00 3.28 9.8 4.0 10.28
1897 NL 7.50 2.75 11.0 3.7 10.25
1908 AL 8.56 1.01 13.0 -0.5 9.57
1901 AL 7.22 1.88 10.5 2.0 9.10
1903 AL 5.37 2.97 6.9 3.7 8.34
1900 NL 5.42 2.90 6.8 3.5 8.32
1898 NL 7.00 1.00 9.8 0.0 8.00
1896 NL 5.29 0.49 7.7 -0.4 5.78
1899 NL 3.29 1.14 3.8 0.6 4.43

He was a good little player actually...and remarkably consistent. I'm not seeing the supposed "all downhill after his rookie season" think...no he was a good solid player for his entire prime. Defensively, he was remarkably consistent and very good though he was not what I would call an all time great at the position.

Amongst CFers, (an unfortunately strong position which is why I voted no), Jones ranks 21st all time in marker score with 119.8 offensive points and an adjusted 54.5 defensive points...he's right behind Dale Murphy, Vada Pinson, Fred Lynn and Mike Griffin.

[Fuzzy Bear]

The case for Fielder Jones is this:

(A) Lloyd Waner is in the HOF.

(B) Fielder Jones was almost as good as Lloyd Waner

(C) How far behind Lloyd Waner can you be and NOT be a HOFer?

Fielder Jones is not as good as Lloyd Waner. He's not as good as Amos Otis.

[SABR Matt]

Actually...I think Jones is significantly better than Lloyd Waner...but Lloyd Waner is one of the worst HOFers so that's not a good arguing point. Jones and Otis are about the same IMHO.

[Paul Wendt]

. . . Defensively, he was remarkably consistent and very good though he was not what I would call an all time great at the position.
What does all-time great mean here?

Amongst CFers, (an unfortunately strong position which is why I voted no),
Maybe there should be more CF than LF and RF in the hall of fame. Compare more SS than 3B or 2B. Either way, part of the argument would be that center infield or center outfield is a more important position. That doesn't make the case, only counter the thought, or axiom?, that fielding positions should be represented equally.

The Hall of Merit recently ranked centerfield members. The allocation of members (Jones is not one) put all of the career Negro Leagues outfielders in center: Hill, Charleston, Torriente, Oms, Stearnes, Bell, Brown, others? Why? Because they spent so much playing time at center. The same phenomenon, best players at center, short, pitcher, catcher may be true of the major leagues but extremely dampened, visible only in the larger aggregates that all-time mlb history provides.

(At the Hall of Merit, Martin Dihigo is at pitcher, Mule Suttles at firstbase. Initially we put the split-career Monte Irvin in center but finally moved him to left. Larry Doby is at center, his mlb position.)

[SABR Matt]

Perhaps there should be more CFers...but Fielder Jones would still be, at best, a bubble candidate.

I would consider keeping 15 LF and 15 RF (as has been my predisposition i the past) and upping my number to 20 in CF...that's about as far as I'd go...and I'd want to include a couple of the negro leaguers (Charleston and Torriente at least)..so that's making it even harder.

[KCGHOST]

I guess if you are happy with Earl Combs being in the HoF then Fielder is plausible,