Cleveland Indians' Doug Jones, master of the change-up, dead at 64

CLEVELAND — Doug Jones was never afraid. Not when he was on the mound in the ninth inning with a lead and a save just three outs away.He had every reason to feel fear. He didn't throw hard. His best pitch was a circle change-up that came in three stages according to manager Doc Ewards. "Slow, slower and slowest," said Edwards.Jones made his big league debut for the Brewers in 1982. He pitched four games in April and disappeared into the minors for the next four years. He didn't resurface until September of 1986 with the Indians.It wasn't as if Cleveland's front office was falling all over itself to promote him. They wanted hard throwers coming out of the pen. But Jones' numbers at Class AAA Maine were hard to ignore. In 43 games, he struck out 98, walked 27 and posted a 2.09 ER in 116 1/3 innings.Manager Pat Corrales and executives Danny O'Brien and Joe Klein gave Jones a chance. In 11 games, he went 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA. On Sept. 14, he earned the first of 303 saves, going two-thirds of an inning against Oakland. The rest, as they say, is history.Jones died on Monday from COVID. He was 64."He was always reliable," said teammate Greg Swindell in a text message. "Never a worry when he took the ball. Calm demeanor. A joy to know the hard work he put in to get to MLB and then become a perinneal All-Star. And he loved ice cream!"Sparky Anderson was manager of the Tigers when Jones broke in with the Indians. Detroit was one of the best teams in baseball at that time, but Anderson hated to face Jones."The guy looks mean," said Anderson after one game.Jones was a burly 6-3 with a thick mustache and a hard stare. When he took the mound, he kept his head down and his cap pulled low over his eyes. And the ball never stopped moving in his right hand, searching for just the right grip for his next changeup.But the Jones that Anderson saw on the mound, was different off the field.One of the first long stories I ever did on an Indians' player was on Jones. He told me about his journey through the minors. He told me about pitching winter ball in Mexico. He was afraid to drink the water because he didn't want to get sick. He said he solved the problem by drinking only beer.Still not sure if that was a true story or not, but it sounded good.Jones went to three of his five All-Star games with the Indians. He pitched in Cleveland from 1986 through 1991. In 1998, then GM John Hart brough him back for the stretch run and his first postseason appearance.For much of Jones' career in Cleveland, he was the best thing the Indians had going. He saved 37 games for a team that lost 84 in 1988. In 1989, he saved 32 games for a team that lost 89. Jones saved 43 games in 1990 for an Indians team that lost 85.He went to the All-Star Game in each of those years.Edwards, who managed the Indians from 1987 until he was fired in 1989, called him "Special Delivery." Save situations breed drama and heartache. Edwards said Jones had a way of calming the waters when he came into a save situation.Ricky Vaughn, the Indians fictional closer from Major League, was called the Wild Thing. On Jones baseball-reference page, it says one of his nicknames was the Mild Thing. I never heard him called that, but it fit.Jones struggled with the Indians in 1991. In reality, they were beyond saving, losing a franchise record 105 games.He became a free agent at the end of that season, but wasn't done. The next year he saved 36 games for Houston and returned to the All-Star Game at age 35. In 1997, at age 40, Jones saved 36 games for the Brewers and led the big leagues with 73 appearances.Jones' 16th and final year in the big leagues was 2000. His 123 saves with the Indians still rank third in franchise history. He is one of 31 pitchers to save 300 or more games in the big leagues. All but one of those saves came when he was 30 or older.In 2001 the Cleveland franchise named its top 100 players in history. Jones, a late bloomer, made the list.©2021 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.