NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1976 BOBBY JONES

Today on the blog, we gibe former outfielder Bob Jones another "not so missing" card to go with his 1978 edition, this time a 1976 card after playing in a handful of games with the Texas Rangers in 1975:

 

Jones appeared in only nine games in 1975, putting in time at all three outfield spots while collecting one hit over 11 at-bats, for an .091 average for those wondering.

He'd have somewhat of a break-through season in 1976 when he appeared in 78 games, collecting 187 plate-appearances, even if he hit only .211 with 35 hits over 166 official at-bats for the Angels.
In 1978 he had an excellent season in the Minor Leagues, hitting .307 with 14 homers and 102 RBIs, but never got a call up to the Big leagues, prompting him to go to Japan where he played for the Chunichi Dragons before coming back and suiting up for the Texas Rangers in 1981 when he played in 10 games.
He’d spend all of 1982 in the Minor Leagues again, but in 1983 made it back, where he’d play out his career through the 1986 seasons.
By the time he left the Majors in 1986, he finished with a career .221 batting average, with 133 hits over 603 at-bats in 314 games, with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs.
After his playing days, he pretty much made himself a baseball lifer, becoming a coach and Minor League manager in the Texas organization, eventually becoming the franchise’s all-time winning Minor League manager with 1285 career wins.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 BOB JONES

Today we have a “not so missing” 1978 card for former outfielder Bob Jones, who stuck around the Majors for parts of nine seasons over 13 years:

Jones appeared in 14 games for the California Angels in 1977, hitting .176 with three hits over 17 at-bats including a homer with three runs batted in.
This was after somewhat of a break-through season of 1976 when he appeared in 78 games, collecting 187 plate-appearances, even if he hit only .211 with 35 hits over 166 official at-bats.
In 1978 he had an excellent season in the Minor Leagues, hitting .307 with 14 homers and 102 RBIs, but never got a call up to the Big leagues, prompting him to go to Japan where he played for the Chunichi Dragons before coming back and suiting up for the Texas Rangers in 1981 when he played in 10 games.
He’d spend all of 1982 in the Minor Leagues again, but in 1983 made it back, where he’d play out his career through the 1986 seasons.
By the time he left the Majors in 1986, he finished with a career .221 batting average, with 133 hits over 603 at-bats in 314 games, with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs.
After his playing days, he pretty much made himself a baseball lifer, becoming a coach and Minor League manager in the Texas organization, eventually becoming the franchise’s all-time winning Minor League manager with 1285 career wins.

1977 MARINERS REDONE- DAVE COLLINS

Back on July 9th of 2016  I posted about the strange case of the 1977 Topps Dave Collins card and how it took me decades to prove to my friends that I was correct in my guess that it surely wasn’t the former speedster. Take a look at the original:

Well, turns out it was former pitcher Bobby Jones, as I’m sure many of you are now aware all these years later, so it was time to go ahead a re-do the card with the proper image, take a look:

Collins played his first two seasons of Big League ball with the California Angels, stealing 52 bases combined in a part-time roll, giving us a preview of what was to lie ahead.
He would go on to play 16 years in the Major Leagues, stealing as many as 79 bases in 1980 while with the Cincinnati Reds, while also stealing 60 in 1984 when he was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, a season where he also led the league in triples with 15.
I’ll always remember him for his disappointing year with the New York Yankees in 1982, a year that was a failure for the organization in so many way actually.
Nevertheless, Collins would finish his career with 395 steals, while also batting a very nice .272 with 1335 hits over 4907 at-bats in 1701 games, finishing up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1990.
I never even realized he made it that far to be honest!