Jones welcomed into Sumter Sports Hall of Fame

Tim Jones

By DENNIS BRUNSON
Item Sports Editor
dennisb@theitem.com

When he left Sumter to attend The Citadel in Charleston in the early 19080s, he did so as Timmy Jones, a good — but self-admittedly — not great high school baseball player.

When his time was up at The Citadel in 1985, he left the military school as Tim Jones, a college All-American, a second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals — and future Major League Baseball player.

“I wasn’t the best of the best to ever play at Sumter High School,” Jones said. “Looking back on it though, I think I got the best out of my ability.”

Jones’ ability carried him to a career where he played all or part of six seasons with the Cardinals to go along with a solid minor league career and a tremendous career at The Citadel. Because of that, Jones will be inducted into the Sumter Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday in a ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Sumter located at 26 Council Street.

“This is a huge honor,” said Jones, who is now 46 years old and working as a physical therapist assistant in Maumelle, Ark. “This takes me back to people like Bobby Richardson, Freddie Solomon, Terry Kinard, that I know are in there. I’m just thinking it’s an honor to be in there with them, especially after the amount of time I’ve been out of baseball.”

Jones remembers being a weak-armed second baseman at Sumter High and with the Sumter American Legion P-15’s. However, things started to change for him when he went to The Citadel.

“I was physically a late bloomer,” he said. “Once I got to college, I got up in there lifting weights. I got physically stronger and my arm got stronger because I was moved to shortstop.

“I had some good years and scouts saw it.”

Jones was a third-team All-American in 1985 and was All-Southern Conference in both ‘84 and ‘85. The left-handed swinger had a career average of .352 and batted .429 in ‘85 when he also stole 46 bases.

Jones moved quickly through the St. Louis organization, but he ran into an obstacle of sorts when he reached the majors — Ozzie Smith. He was the backup behind the Hall of Fame shortstop throughout his career, but Jones also was a utility player. In his career, Jones played every position except first base and rightfield.

Jones had .485 career at-bats in the majors, finishing with a .233 average. He had 25 doubles, a triple and a home run. His best season came in ‘89 when he hit .293 in 75 at-bats.

The most at-bats Jones had in a season was 145, which came in ‘92. He batted .200 that season.

While he looks back on his career and admits he sometimes wonders if things would have been different if he had been in another organization and gotten a shot at an everyday job, Jones has no problems with the way his career went.

“I think in Major League Baseball, you have 200 players who are the best of the best,” he said. “The other 400 are interchangeable, and I that’s where I fell in.

“There are some players who spent their careers never going higher than Triple-A that were probably better players than me. Then, there were some players who went on to play 10 years in the majors that I thought I was better than. Still, to play almost five full years in the majors, I think that’s a nice career.”