"The Yankees need help with their starting pitching, but many people initially questioned whether Jimmy Jones was the cure. After coming over from the Padres, Jones begins his Yankee career with just over two years of big league experience, and a 9-14 record with San Diego in 1988.
So why Jimmy Jones? Youth and strength. In the past, Yankee fortunes have been placed on the arms of veterans who seemingly didn't have anything left. So this year it's a new approach, giving a chance to some new and livelier arms. Jones is only 24 and can throw heat. Last year his innings pitched would have ranked him second on the Yankee staff. Imagine what that combination could mean to Yankee pennant hopes if this prospect can put it together.
Jones still has something to prove, and he wants to show this acquisition was indeed a great move for the Yankees."
-The New York Yankees Official 1989 Yearbook
"Jones spent the entire 1988 season in the Padres' starting rotation and went 9-14 in 29 starts with a 4.12 ERA and three complete games. He had 179 innings pitched and allowed 192 hits (including 14 homers) and 98 runs (82 earned) along with 44 walks [1.32 WHIP] and 92 strikeouts, and had a batting average against of .277.
After losing his first start of the year, Jimmy recorded his first win on April 14 against Los Angeles when he pitched 6.2 shutout innings (5H, 4BB, 3K) to gain credit for the Padres' 14-4 victory. It was his only start of the year where he did not allow a run. He followed that with a win in his next outing, April 22 against Houston, allowing one earned run in 6.2 innings pitched in San Diego's 3-1 victory. It was one of only two times all season Jimmy recorded victories in back-to-back appearances.
He lost each of his next three outings from April 27 through May 8, even though his ERA in those three games was 3.57 (7 ER, 17.2 IP) as the Padres scored a total of five runs. In the May 8 contest at Pittsburgh, Jimmy recorded his season high of seven strikeouts. He broke that losing streak with a 5-hit complete game against Montreal, a 7-1 Padre victory. That began a span of six starts from May 13 through June 9, when he went 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA (13 ER, 42 IP).
Jones had his second three-game losing streak, covering four starts from June 19-July 5, going 0-3 with a 7.66 ERA (19 ER, 22.1 IP). That streak began with his worst outing of the year, June 19 in the first game of a doubleheader at Los Angeles, when he allowed nine earned runs and 11 hits in four innings, including home runs to Franklin Stubbs and Kirk Gibson, in the Dodgers' 12-2 win; but in his last loss of that streak, July 5 against Pittsburgh, Jones matched his season high with seven strikeouts while allowing just two earned runs (solo homers by Tommy Gregg and Andy Van Slyke) in seven innings.
He ended the losing streak on July 19 by pitching his second complete game of the season, a 6-hit 6-2 win at Pittsburgh in the first game of a doubleheader, giving up just one earned run in nine innings along with two walks and four strikeouts. He followed with a win in his next outing, July 24 at Chicago, going eight innings and allowing one run (earned) on four hits in the Padres' 2-1 victory. It was the only time all season Jimmy pitched 17 innings in consecutive starts and the second time all year that he won in back-to-back starts.
Jimmy pitched one other complete game, August 11 at Atlanta, allowing five hits and two runs (earned) in eight innings but was charged with the Padres' 2-1 loss. He was 8-10 with a 3.84 ERA on August 16 but from there finished the season by dropping four of his last five decisions (covering his last six starts of the year) from August 22 through September 20, with a 5.46 ERA (19 ER, 31.3 IP), to drop his final record to 9-14 with a 4.12 ERA.
He was acquired by the Yankees along with Lance McCullers and Stanley Jefferson on October 24, 1988 in exchange for Jack Clark and Pat Clements. He signed a contract for the 1989 season.
Selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round (third player selected) of the free agent draft on June 7, 1982, Jones' first year in pro ball was a healthy one, going 4-6 in 14 starts for Walla Walla ('A' Northwest League) while fanning 78 in 77 innings pitched.
While pitching for Reno ('A' California League) in 1983, Jones was 7-5 with a 2.70 ERA in 17 starts when on July 3 he was forced to miss the remainder of the season due to tendinitis in his arm. Prior to the injury, he had pitched six complete games and a shutout. In 1984, Jones had a promising start at Beaumont (AA Texas League), posting wins in seven of nine decisions with a 2.10 ERA, but suffered a disabling injury for the second straight year on July 3, tearing ligaments in his right ankle while running in the outfield prior to a game in El Paso.
While pitching for Beaumont in 1985, he won seven games for the third straight year but also had his season cut short by injury for the third successive time. Jimmy was forced out of action on July 16 with an injury to his left knee. He was strongest in May, going 4-1 with a 3.38 ERA.
Jimmy started 1986 strongly at Las Vegas (AAA Pacific Coast League), tossing a 5-hit shutout over Portland in his AAA debut but struggled through June, posting a 3-7 record. He won six of his last nine decisions before being recalled by the Padres and made his major league debut on September 21 against Houston in the Astrodome. A Bob Knepper triple with two out in the third inning prevented Jones from tossing a no-hitter in his major league debut, as he retired the last 19 men he faced in beating the Astros 6-0 and becoming the first pitcher to throw a 1-hitter in his big league debut since Juan Marichal in 1960. His last start of the year came on October 1 against Los Angeles when Jones established a personal best that still stands with nine strikeouts in an 8-2 win.
He just missed making the Padres out of spring training in 1987, so he started the season at Las Vegas where he was 2-0 in four starts before being recalled to the majors for keeps on April 29. Jimmy initially was used both as a starter and a reliever before establishing himself as a starter after a superb relief performance on July 29. Filling in after the first inning for an injured Storm Davis, he threw eight innings of near-perfect relief, allowing only two hits with two walks and two strikeouts. It marked the longest relief appearance by a Padre since Dennis Kinney went 9.1 innings at Philadelphia on August 21, 1980.
He was inserted into the rotation for the rest of the year and went 7-4 with a 3.73 ERA in the second half, including a four-game winning streak. The highlight of that streak was a 2-hit shutout over Atlanta on August 10, with one walk and four strikeouts. He was in on two other shutouts, both of a combined nature, and had one other complete game, a 10-2 win over Houston on September 13.
Jimmy went 8-1 against Western Division teams but was just 1-6 against the East. His strikeout high was five on two occasions. He hit his first career home on July 30 at Cincinnati, a game-winning two-run homer off Guy Hoffman.
Jimmy attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, compiling a 14-3 record during his senior year. He is an avid Dallas Cowboys fan. His hobbies are golf and hunting, his favorite spectator sport is football and his favorite ballpark is Wrigley Field. His favorite entertainer is Jimmy Stewart."
-1989 New York Yankees Information Guide
Tied modern major league record for fewest hits allowed, first major league game, nine innings- 1 (September 21, 1986).
Tied for Pacific Coast League in games started by pitchers- 27 (1986).
-1989 New York Yankees Information Guide
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