Because we all need a respite, I have been thinking about Cleon Jones.
In an age of 24/7 media, when we are bombarded with stories of inflation and school shootings and COVID-19, it is helpful to have a distraction. Especially when your job inevitably drenches you in such worldly concerns.
So, I have been thinking about Cleon Jones.
Jones was an outfielder who played in the major leagues from 1963 to 1976, mostly for the New York Mets. Good player, but not particularly memorable, unless you are the type to fill your head with meaningless baseball trivia. In other words, I remember Cleon Jones.
But it is not his 93 career home runs or his .340 batting average for the 1969 Miracle Mets that has me thinking about him. It is the fact that his was the first baseball card I owned.
At the age of 6, with a dime in my pocket, I wandered into the local convenience store and bought my first pack — 10 cards for 10 cents. Opening the traditional wax pack that included a piece of cardboardlike gum with the cardboard cards, Jones was the first player to stare back at me.