1894
Born February 5, 1894
Austin, TX, USA
Ruben Jones Marquee
b. February 5, 1894 · Birmingham Black Barons 1923–1925, 1927–1928, Indianapolis ABCs 1926, Chicago American Giants 1928, Little Rock Grays 1932, Memphis Red Sox 1940
Ruben Jones spent most of the 1920s in right field for the Birmingham Black Barons, across two spells either side of a season with the Indianapolis ABCs, and hit .294 in the games that were scored.
He was with Birmingham in 1927 and 1928 when a teenaged Satchel Paige was pitching for the club, and finished the decade with the Chicago American Giants. Much later he appears once more in the record, in the Memphis outfield in 1940 at forty-six.
Born in Austin, Texas in 1894, Jones collected 364 hits with 17 home runs and 201 runs batted in across 346 recorded games. He died on February 14, 1970, nine days after his seventy-sixth birthday.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923* | BBB | 18 | 62 | 8 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 3 | .323 |
| 1924 | BBB | 43 | 130 | 16 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 1 | .231 |
| 1925 | BBB | 76 | 298 | 40 | 85 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 46 | 14 | 0 | 8 | .285 |
| 1926 | ABC | 65 | 269 | 47 | 84 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 53 | 10 | 0 | 7 | .312 |
| 1927 | BBB | 76 | 267 | 52 | 81 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 49 | 12 | 0 | 8 | .303 |
| 1928 | BBB/CAG | 51 | 167 | 25 | 51 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 5 | .305 |
| 1932 | LRG | 10 | 37 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .297 |
| 1940 | MRS | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .286 |
| Major leagues | — | 328 | 1175 | 186 | 344 | 55 | 19 | 16 | 191 | 50 | 3 | 29 | .293 |
| All seasons | — | 346 | 1237 | 194 | 364 | 59 | 19 | 17 | 201 | 56 | 3 | 32 | .294 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | BBB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5.40 |
| Career | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5.40 |
Seasons outside MLB's recognized major leagues appear in All seasons, but not in Major leagues or the leaderboards. For Ruben Jones, that is 1923–1923. Why totals can differ.
On this day & linked events
1970