Former big league right-hander Odell Jones has passed away, per John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now. No cause of death was given for Jones, who was 71.
Born in California in 1953, Jones was signed by the Pirates as an undrafted free agent in 1971. He made his debut with that club in 1975 but tossed just three innings. He got a more proper run of play in the show in 1977, tossing 108 innings for the Bucs in a swing role. He posted an earned run average of 5.08 over 15 starts and 19 relief appearances.
Jones would go on to bounce around the league, serving in various roles. He was traded to the Mariners in 1978 and then back to the Pirates in 1980. He went to the Rangers in the 1982 Rule 5 draft and recorded 10 saves for them in 1983. He later signed with the Orioles and Blue Jays, though he didn’t make it to the majors with the latter club.
For many baseball fans, Jones is best known for one magical night where almost everything lined up for him. He was with the Brewers in 1988 as a 35-year-old journeyman. Teddy Higuera was supposed to start against Cleveland on May 28 but was dealing with some back spasms, per JD Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which led to Jones taking the ball instead.
Though he wasn’t even the scheduled starter, Jones had the best performance of his life that night. He was perfect through seven, until he issued a one-out walk to Mel Hall. He kept his no-hitter going into the ninth, until it was broken up by a one-out single off the bat of Ron Washington, now the manager of the Angels. Dan Plesac came into to get the final two outs as the Brewers beat Cleveland 2-0 (boxscore here at Baseball Reference).
That was the final big league season for Jones, who finished his career with a 4.42 ERA in 549 1/3 innings over nine different major league seasons. MLBTR joins the baseball world in sending our condolences to the Jones family as well as his fans and friends throughout the game.
I have a really cool PSA 10 1980 Topps card of Odell.
RIP Mr. Jones.
Came one season short of being with PIT in the world series
RIP Mr Jones
Great story regarding the perfect game through seven and the no-hitter through 8 1/3 innings. Nice reporting Darragh McDonald.
Remember Odell well. RIP.
RIP
Forgot about him with my Brewers. Thank you for the story. Consummate Ham and Egger. One of the types of players that make the game great!
What does the first P stand for in your name?
RIP
RIP Odell…..
Odell I just remember he was really skinny . What a game for him.
I really don’t think it’s fair to call someone who played his entire career for one team a journeyman. I’d like to know what McDonalds definition of a journeyman is.
As stated above he suited up for Pittsburgh, Seattle, Baltimore, Texas and Milwaukee. Played in the minors for Toronto and the California Angels. That, is the definition of a journeyman.
Definition of “old school journeyman,” for sure. Had he played in this era, would have made it over to one of the Asian franchises to make it complete
RIP
He played for multiple teams. Check his baseball reference or have someone read the article to you. It’s a good one. As a Brewers fan I was 10 in 88. I didn’t remember the almost no no. I can recall many of them. It was a great story to read. Man lived his dream of playing in the MLB.