The Padres did not give fans much to cheer in their formative years, finishing last in the National League West each of the franchise’s first six seasons.
That changed in the mid-1970s, when a curly-haired left-hander pitcher became a local phenomenon as well as a curiosity across the country.
Starting pitcher Randy Jones realized unprecedented success for the Padres that lifted the team out of the cellar, captivated the city and brought beleaguered fans to their feet.
“He was the first big gate attraction for the Padres,” said longtime Padres executive Andy Strasburg, who worked for the franchise from 1975-96. “If you looked at attendance, it spiked every time he pitched. It was a combination of his success, how rapidly a game went and his easygoing personality.
“There were no hidden agendas. He was smart, had a great sense of humor and was accommodating. He earned the following that he had besides being successful.”
Jones, who remained a part of the organization and a fan favorite for decades, died Tuesday. He was 75.
The Padres announced Jones’ death on Wednesday morning. He pitched for the Padres from 1973-80.
Jones was the franchise’s first 20-game winner, going 20-12 in 1975 with a league-leading 2.24 ERA to finish second to the Mets’ Tom Seaver in the National League Cy Young Award voting. Jones won the NL Cy Young a year later, when he went 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA. He led the NL that year in victories, innings pitched (315 1/3), starts (40) and complete games (25).
That last statistic is almost incomprehensible in today’s game. By comparison, Padres pitchers have combined for a total of 25 complete games over the past 16 seasons.
Alan Trammell, a Hall of Fame shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, was a teenager growing up in Serra Mesa when Jones was in his groove.
“Randy was the original Mr. Padre before Tony Gwynn,” said Trammell, who attended dozens of Padres games over those 1975-76 seasons during his junior and senior years at Kearny High School. “I remember those two years very, very vividly. First of all, you better get there at the start of the game, and you were in for a very short game. He was going nine innings. He worked fast, threw strikes, and you know what? That still works today.
“It’s the changeup, the changing speeds, the deception and just the movement on his pitches. It just shows once again that, yes, we all like the hard throwers, but guys can still be successful if they’ve got a good mind and they know how to set up hitters. Basically, his whole philosophy was the hitters get themselves out. They’re so anxious to hit. He used that to his advantage. It was awesome.
“The community loved him, and he’s still one of the most popular players in Padres history.”
Jones was named to the National League All-Star team both years, getting the save closing out the 1975 game and the win and then starting the 1976 game.
Those years also represented the first two times the Padres weren’t last in the six-team NL West, finishing fourth in 1975 and fifth in 1976.
Friends remember Padres legend: ‘It was impossible not to smile when Randy Jones was around’
Jones’ starts became events. Fans in field-level seats along the left-field foul line would applaud as Jones walked down to the Padres bullpen for pregame warmups and then give him a standing ovation on his walk back to the Padres dugout.
The Padres retired Jones’ No. 35 jersey after his career was over and fans see it at Petco Park’s Home Plate Gate.
“Crossing paths with RJ and talking baseball or life was a joy for everyone fortunate enough to spend time with him. Randy was committed to San Diego, the Padres, and his family. He was a giant in our lives and our franchise history,” the Padres said in a statement released Wednesday.
San Diego Padres pitching icon Randy Jones at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in 1984. (Don Kohlbauer/U-T San Diego file photo)
A Fullerton native, Jones attended Brea Olinda High School and Chapman College before the Padres took him in the fifth round of the 1972 draft. He was in the big leagues a year later.
Jones was called up to the majors to replace pitcher Fred Norman in the Padres’ starting rotation. The cash-strapped franchise had traded Norman to the Cincinnati Reds, with most of the $150,000 that came from the Reds — along with outfielder Gene Locklear and pitcher Mike Johnson — used to pay Dave Winfield’s signing bonus after the outfielder was drafted out of the University of Minnesota.
Jones, then 23, debuted for the Padres on June 16, 1973, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.
“I was 8-1 at the time in the Texas League,” Jones said two years ago during a conversation on the 50th anniversary of his debut. “Opportune time. Right guy at the right place.”
Not much was going right for the Padres when Jones was summoned from the bullpen. They were down five runs midway through a game they would lose 10-2 before 24,452 fans. Jones pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning, getting third baseman Ted Martinez and catcher Duffy Dyer on balls back to the mound before retiring pitcher Jerry Koosman on a fly ball to right field.
“My first inning was awfully pretty,” Jones said.
When he returned in the sixth, Jones completed his warmup pitches and catcher Fred Kendall threw the ball down to second base. It was whipped around the infield and ended up in the hands of third baseman Dave Roberts.
“Dave runs over and flips me the baseball,” Jones said, “and then he asks me, ‘Do you know who the hitter is?’
“I turned around and it was Willie Mays. Damn.”
Jones remembers getting Mays in a 1-2 hole and knew exactly what he wanted to do next.
“Figured I’d throw him a ball down and in and he’d pull it foul,” Jones said. “I was wrong.”
Instead, Mays hit a ball none of the fielders were going to get to, as he had done 655 times previously over his Hall of Fame career.
“He hit that ball so hard you wouldn’t believe it,” Jones said. “It disappeared in the dark over the bullpen in left field. … They still haven’t found it. It must have gotten lost in the parking lot somewhere.”
Jones went 7-6 with a 3.16 ERA on the season. His other 19 appearances all were as a starter.
The first start came a week after his debut, against the Atlanta Braves at San Diego Stadium. A crowd of 6,039 saw Jones allow five hits and three runs over seven innings of a 7-3 loss.
Jones allowed one home run in the game.
“And who did I give up a home run to?” Jones asked.
Hank Aaron.
“There you go,” Jones said with a laugh. “I didn’t mess around, man. I was getting the big boys out of the way.
“He just kind of flicked his wrists and it went into left-center seats about nine rows up. I just remember watching that ball hit that seat and going, ‘Damn, he didn’t even swing that hard. It kind of freaked me out.”
It didn’t shake Jones’ confidence, however.
“I looked at my wife, Marie, on the way home after the game,” Jones said, “and I told her, ‘I can pitch up here. I can get these guys out.’”
The glance Marie Jones returned was not one of reassurance.
“She wasn’t buying it whatsoever,” Jones laughed.
It would be a couple of years before he could prove it.
In 1974, Jones went 8-22, suffering more losses than any other pitcher in the National League.
He turned it around in 1975 and received The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award. When Jones won the Cy Young in 1976, he led the majors in games started (40), games completed (25) and innings pitched (315.1), doing so not with a blazing fastball but a sinker ball that batters beat into the ground for infield outs.
Jones was 16-3 at the All-Star break, prompting Sports Illustrated to put him on its cover with the headline: “Threat to win 30. San Diego’s confounding Randy Jones.”
San Diego Padres pitcher Randy Jones, warms up Aug.18, 1976, for a night game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Jones has a 19-7 record and is hoping for number 20. (AP Photo/JAC)
No pitcher has matched that first-half win total since.
Jones claimed more baseball fame.
On May 4, 1977, he teamed with the Phillies’ Jim Kaat in the fastest game in Padres history, a 4-1 victory completed in 1 hour, 29 minutes at what was then known as San Diego Stadium. Jones induced 19 ground balls while striking out one and walking one. Philadelphia’s lone run scored in the third inning on Garry Maddox’s single, which Jones helped erase himself with a double in a two-hit game in which he scored a run.
The first 6 1/2 innings took an hour to complete.
Jones learned later from Kaat that the quick 7 p.m. affair allowed his Philadelphia counterpart to get to a Kenny Rankin concert with plenty of time to spare.
Jones finished his Padres career with 92 wins and a 3.30 ERA. He spent his final two seasons with the Mets, appearing in 42 games.
More than any statistic or award, Jones may be best known for being one of the Padres’ first homegrown stars.
He remained close to the club in retirement, opening his wildly popular Randy Jones BBQ along the concourse at Qualcomm Stadium before moving (along with the team) to Petco Park. Jones served as a spring training instructor, broadcaster and team ambassador for decades. In recent years, he helped the Padres start and grow their fantasy camp in Peoria, Ariz.
A longtime Poway resident before moving to Escondido, Jones is survived by his wife, Marie, two daughters and grandchildren.
Union-Tribune reporter Jeff Sanders contributed to this story.