1984 Donruss Jeff Jones
As a youngster, I prided myself on knowing each and every player to put on a major league uniform during my era. When I got to college, we would play drinking games that went like this:
It would be me against three to five people. We would pass the baseball encyclopedia back and forth (long before the internet.) We would open the book and select a player who played from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. The other team would have to tell something about the player. For example, if the player was Don McCormick, the other team would have to say either "Phillies" or "catcher." It sounds easy until you realize that most players made a few appearances. Needless to say, I never had to drink but I had some drunk opponents.
The year before I left for college, while working at Denny's, I got into a discussion (argument) with a co-worker when he quizzed me and mentioned "Jeff Jones." I of course said, "Oakland A's pitcher." (Of course!) The problem was, there was another Jeff Jones who I had never heard of before. He was local to our area and had a cup of coffee with the Reds as an outfielder.
I insisted my co-worker was wrong as there was no other Jeff Jones. Just the A's pitcher. It was devastating to find out I was wrong. I was never wrong as I knew them all back in the day. How could this guy get by me? He even had a baseball card for heaven's sake. I should know every player who was pictured on a card at least.
This is the only memory I have of Jeff Jones. I don't know anything else about him except he was responsible for my biggest defeat in my storied baseball trivia career!
