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Cleon Jones: Mets All Time Left Fielder (Part One- the Sixties)

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Cleon Joseph Jones was born on August 4, 1942, in Plateau, Alabama just outside of Mobile. The town was racially mixed & known for its paper mills.  In 1945 his father had to leave town after he beat a man who had grabbed his wife’s hair while waiting for a bus. Rather than stand trial in the South he relocated to Chicago, Illinois. Cleon’s mother moved him & his brother- Tommie Lee to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, she passed away unexpectedly, and the two boys had to be raised by their grandmother back in Mobile. In high school he was a teammate & friend of Tommie Agee.  At Mobile County Training high school, he was a star athlete. In football he was a half back scoring 26 touch downs. On the track team he was a 9.7 man. On the baseball team he played outfield & pitched. Legend has it, Cleon was a natural lefthander but was hitting the ball so hard he was losing too many balls. So he began to bat right-handed in order ...
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Remembering Mets History (1973) Cleon Jones Becomes the First Mets Player to Collect 1000th Hits & Willie Mays Almost Single Handedly Beats Pirates

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Thursday August 2nd, 1973:   After the Mets had taken their first double header of the season the previous night, they once again went up against the Pittsburgh Pirates for the final game of the four-game set. Yogi Berra's club were still ten games below .500. They were in last place of the NL Eastern division, back nine games. Some of the new papers were calling for Yogi Berra to be let go as manager.  There was even a fan survey asking who the Mets should axe, the manager, the GM or the Chairman of the Board. The fans voted for Yogi to stay, as he was that popular a figure. Berra had just stated to the press a few days ago his now famous line- "It Ain't over till it's over". Tug McGraw had shouted out his famous "You gotta Believe" motivation call a few weeks earlier, at chairman M. Donald Grant's team meeting. It was yet to be believed. Eventually things would turn around, as most  of the injured regulars returned to action. Excellent pitc...
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(2026) 1986 Mets 40th Anniversary Ceremony at Citi Field

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August 1st 2026:   Twenty members of the 1986 Mets gathered at Citi Field in a ceremony honoring the fortieth Anniversary of the World Championship team. Family members of the late Gary Carter, manager Davey Johnson, coaches Bud Harrelson & Bill Robinson as well as former GM Frank Cashen. The players were introduced in pairs with a brief summary of their contributions, as a video was played in the background. A film of quick highlights began the ceremony & the "Lets Go Mets Go" music video followed the introductions. Quotes- Darryl Strawberry: "We were like rock stars, it was like a rock band coming into town. Everybody wanted to see the Mets, the bad boys. You'll never see a team that good that played the game the way we played. We played the game well, we played it hard & we would put our knuckles on you too. We just didn't play around, you just didn't want to play around with us." Quotes: Roger McDowell: When we started the year, our ult...
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