Steven Woods had thrown 15 innings in three days, so a heavy arm made it hard for the “Ben & Woods” co-host to find the strike zone the deeper he got into Padres Fantasy Camp.
Still, as far as Randy Jones was concerned, there were no safe spaces on a baseball field.
“He would drive by on his cart and yell … ‘Woodsy, think you will ever throw an effin’ strike?’” Woods recalled with a laugh. “He loved to heckle me. Then he’d put his arm around you. He made you feel so special.”
Jones, 75, died Tuesday after more than five decades of association with the Padres and San Diego. The team drafted him in 1972 in the fifth round out of Chapman College, brought him to the majors the following June and watched his 1976 NL Cy Young campaign morph him into the Padres’ first true superstar.
Jones ultimately won 92 games while pitching eight of his 10 years in the majors with the Padres. He climbed the mound in New York for the Mets for two years but ultimately made his way back to San Diego, where he had opened up a string of car washes during his playing days. His off-field ventures included the Randy Jones All American Sports Grill, Randy Jones BBQ at Qualcomm Stadium and later Petco Park, and various roles in media.
“The entrepreneur, as I would tell him,” longtime Padres play-by-play radio announcer Ted Leitner said. “The magnate.”
Jones’ life on the air began while he was still in uniform. He hosted a pre-game show that served as Leitner’s first broadcast job. Willie McCovey and Willie Mays were tough gets in those days, but not when the ask came directly from Jones.
“You name the star on the other team,” Leitner said, “and he’d get them.”
San Diego Padres pitcher Brandon Morrow talks with former Padre Randy Jones during a spring training practice. (K.C. Alfred, The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Jones went on to pop in as a color commentator from time to time alongside Bob Chandler, host pre- and postgame shows on the flagship radio station and later “Padres Social Hour” on various platforms. His ambassadorship grew to joining fellow Padres alumni in softball games at various military bases, headlining Padres Volunteer Team endeavors and fundraising for the Randy Jones Foundation, benefitting military families and San Diego children.
Through all that, Jones remained a staple at Petco Park, even after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in November 2016.
“If you saw him at the ballpark,” Woods said, “he couldn’t walk 10 feet without being stopped for a picture.”
Said Chandler: “I never saw him turn down anything, an autograph or any chance to promote the Padres and baseball. … It was impossible not to smile when Randy Jones was around.”
Jones had gravitational pull inside the clubhouse, too. And if you were left-handed like Jones, he especially wanted to talk, as he often stopped by lockers belonging to the likes of Padres southpaws Clayton Richard, Eric Lauer and Kyle Hart over the years.
Former Padres manager Bud Black was a lefty Jones had an affinity for. Black had watched Jones pitch in person while he was at San Diego State, so he couldn’t wait to talk to him about his sinker when he ran into him at Padres spring training in Yuma. Later as a coach, Black was having trouble with a young Angels southpaw who struggled to throw inside to lefties.
Jones told Black to have the southpaw block out the hitter and focus on the catcher, umpire and home plate. To help, Jones suggested the pitcher tug his hat down and to the left to have the bill of the hat serve as a visual aid.
“He was always so generous with his time and helpful and just fun to be around,” Black said. “ … And he loved lefties. He really did.”
Former Padres pitcher Randy Jones, who is the San Diego Padres Alumni team’s manager, waves after he was introduced before the alumni team play the Marines of the MCAS Miramar All-Stars team in a game of softball at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego on Thursday. (Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune)
Future Cy Young winner Barry Zito was among the youngsters he mentored after his playing days. Jones also made frequent stops as a guest instructor at Padres spring training. The team began a fantasy camp for fans in 2019. Jones embraced the fraternity that grew out of that, lording over the camp from his golf cart and regaling participants with tales of facing the likes of Pete Rose and comparing modern teams’ pasta and chicken spreads with the soup and crackers he got in spring training as a player.
“Everybody wanted to be near Randy,” Woods recalled.
Especially when he was in the golf cart.
Frank “Chavo” Chavez, 54, of Bonita, found himself riding shotgun so often that fellow fantasy campers tried to haul him into their kangaroo court, perhaps out of sheer jealousy.
Only Jones wouldn’t have it.
“He was the commish,” Chavez said. “You don’t mess with the guy in charge.”
Former San Diego Padres pitcher Randy Jones gets a good laugh while talking with manager Pat Murphy prior to a baseball against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday, June 26, 2015, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
Chavez’s relationship with Jones grew well beyond camp after he tracked down an old giveaway poster for Jones to sign. When Chavez called him for an address, Jones had the camper drive it up for the first of a dozen drop-ins over the years.
“It was the last thing on my mind, forming a friendship,” said Chavez, who’s been to every Padres Fantasy Camp since 2020. “ … He really cared about us. Every time we left at the end of camp, he was like, ‘I (bleeping) love you guys.’”