Jones\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
The Padres retired Jones\u2019 No. 35 jersey after his career was over and fans see it at Petco Park\u2019s Home Plate Gate.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrossing 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.\u00a0 He was a giant in our lives and our franchise history,\u201d the Padres said in a statement released Wednesday.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SUT-L-jonesobit-1120-03.jpg\")
San Diego Padres pitching icon Randy Jones at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in 1984. (Don Kohlbauer\/U-T San Diego file photo)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jones was called up to the majors to replace pitcher Fred Norman in the Padres\u2019 starting rotation. The cash-strapped franchise had traded Norman to the Cincinnati Reds, with most of the $150,000 that came from the Reds \u2014 along with outfielder Gene Locklear and pitcher Mike Johnson \u2014 used to pay Dave Winfield\u2019s signing bonus after the outfielder was drafted out of the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Jones, then 23, debuted for the Padres on June 16, 1973, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 8-1 at the time in the Texas League,\u201d Jones said two years ago during a conversation on the 50th anniversary of his debut. \u201cOpportune time. Right guy at the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first inning was awfully pretty,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cDave runs over and flips me the baseball,\u201d Jones said, \u201cand then he asks me, \u2018Do you know who the hitter is?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned around and it was Willie Mays. Damn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones remembers getting Mays in a 1-2 hole and knew exactly what he wanted to do next.<\/p>\n
\u201cFigured I\u2019d throw him a ball down and in and he\u2019d pull it foul,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hit that ball so hard you wouldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt disappeared in the dark over the bullpen in left field. \u2026 They still haven\u2019t found it. It must have gotten lost in the parking lot somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones went 7-6 with a 3.16 ERA on the season. His other 19 appearances all were as a starter.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jones allowed one home run in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd who did I give up a home run to?\u201d Jones asked.<\/p>\n
Hank Aaron.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere you go,\u201d Jones said with a laugh. \u201cI didn\u2019t mess around, man. I was getting the big boys out of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe 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, \u2018Damn, he didn\u2019t even swing that hard. It kind of freaked me out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t shake Jones\u2019 confidence, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at my wife, Marie, on the way home after the game,\u201d Jones said, \u201cand I told her, \u2018I can pitch up here. I can get these guys out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The glance Marie Jones returned was not one of reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t buying it whatsoever,\u201d Jones laughed.<\/p>\n
It would be a couple of years before he could prove it.<\/p>\n
In 1974, Jones went 8-22, suffering more losses than any other pitcher in the National League.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jones was 16-3 at the All-Star break, prompting Sports Illustrated to put him on its cover with the headline: \u201cThreat to win 30. San Diego\u2019s confounding Randy Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SUT-L-jonesobit-1120-04.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n
No pitcher has matched that first-half win total since.<\/p>\n
Jones claimed more baseball fame.<\/p>\n
On May 4, 1977, he teamed with the Phillies\u2019 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\u2019s lone run scored in the third inning on Garry Maddox\u2019s single, which Jones helped erase himself with a double in a two-hit game in which he scored a run.<\/p>\n
The first 6 1\/2 innings took an hour to complete.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
More than any statistic or award, Jones may be best known for being one of the Padres\u2019 first homegrown stars.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A longtime Poway resident before moving to Escondido, Jones is survived by his wife, Marie, two daughters and grandchildren.<\/p>\n
Union-Tribune reporter Jeff Sanders contributed to this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Padres did not give fans much to cheer in their formative years, finishing last in the National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[157423,2649,72017,157422,2328,99],"class_list":["post-302793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-157423","tag-all-star","tag-cy-young","tag-randy-jones","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}