How strong family shaped Rockies OF Jones

Nolan Jones’ dream was waning.

The rookie left fielder needed to wake up, hear an encouraging word and get a reality check. Naturally, he called his brother Peyton, the oldest sibling in an athletically gifted family.

Naturally, Peyton picked up on the first ring.

“We are each other’s first phone call,” Peyton said.

Nolan, traded by the Cleveland Guardians to the Rockies in November 2022, had endured a rough spring training in 2023. Pressing too hard, he hit .200 with no homers and 23 strikeouts in 21 Cactus League games. Rather than begin the season on the big-league roster, he was optioned to Triple-a Albuquerque.

He finally made his Rockies debut May 26 at Coors Field against the New York Mets and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. Things did not go well. Nolan lined out in his first at-bat, struck out looking, and then struck out swinging. Scherzer toyed with him.

Nolan managed to draw a walk in the ninth off Brooks Raley. With runners on first and second and one out, Alan Trejo singled off the glove of Mets third baseman Eduardo Escobar. The ball rolled onto the grass in shallow left field, where Francisco Lindor retrieved it and threw out Jones as he overran second base. The Rockies’ rally fizzled and they lost, 5-2.

“I rounded second too hard, thinking there might be an opportunity for me to take third,” Nolan recalled. “I ended up getting back-picked in the bottom of the ninth. I was like, ‘I’ve waited my whole life to get the opportunity to play in the big leagues, and then this happens?

In my first game with the Rockies?’ I was not happy.” Hence the phone call. “Peyton told me, ‘Just go out and play; have fun like when we were kids,’” Nolan said. “He’s always been good at calming me down.”

Floor hockey and pickup basketball

Being a kid in the Jones household in Langhorne, Pa., meant sports, fun, intense sibling competition, a few fistfights, and bonds of steel.

The payoff for all of those floor hockey games played in the basement, pickup basketball games in the driveway and hours spent in the backyard batting cage has been remarkable.

Nolan, 25, rebounded from his rough start to become the Rockies’ best allaround position player last season, finishing fourth in voting for National League Rookie of the Year. He slashed .297/.389./.542, hit 20 homers, swiped 20 bases and threw out runners as if he were Zeus hurling thunderbolts.

Peyton, 28, played four years of hockey for Penn State and has played four years as a pro. He’s currently the starting goalie for the Iowa Heartlanders, a minor league team in the ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League). Following the theme, Peyton’s wife, Abby, played center for Penn State’s women’s hockey team. When they were married last July, Nolan traveled cross-country to be Peyton’s best man, but only after getting permission from the Rockies to miss a game.

Sister Liana, 21, a senior at Penn State, is the starting center fielder for the Nittany Lions softball team.

Little brother Andrew, 19, played one season of baseball for Division III Immaculata University in Pennsylvania. Things didn’t work out as a position player for Andrew, so now he’s attempting to transform himself into a pitcher and hopes to play for the University of Tampa.

Liana might have been outnumbered, but she wasn’t left out.

“My brothers are extremely selfless,” she said. “Throughout my entire life, they were always willing to help me become a better athlete. Whether it was bringing me along to their training sessions or spending their free time with me at the batting cages.”

The next Chipper Jones?

To get an idea of just how big a deal sports are in the Pennsylvania household of Tom and Regina Jones, consider the names they bestowed upon their boys.

Peyton is named after Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, a favorite of Tom’s when Manning played for the University of Tennessee. Peyton’s middle name is Eddie, for Orioles Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.

Nolan is named after Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Famer fireballer who spent 27 seasons in the majors.

Andrew? There’s a story behind that, too.

The late Joseph “Doc” Jones, the grandfather on the father’s side, loved the Atlanta Braves, especially third baseman Chipper Jones and center fielder Andruw Jones.

“They were my grandfather’s ‘Jones Bros,’ and so are we,” Peyton said.

When Andrew was born, his older brothers got the privilege of naming their new baby brother.

“We said we wanted to name him ‘Chipper,’” Nolan recalled. “We tried, but Mom shut that down quick. She said, ‘Absolutely not.’

“So we tried ‘Andruw,’ with a ‘U.’ Mom liked Andrew, but she said Andruw was simply not going to happen. So we settled on Andrew and everybody’s happy with it.”

“Beezer! Beezer! Beezer!”

Baseball has always been part of the Jones family legacy. Hockey was not. At least not until Tom got free tickets from a friend to see a Philadelphia Flyers game.

“My dad knew nothing about hockey and I was only about 4 years old,” Peyton recalled. “We went to the game and I fell in love with hockey. John Vanbiesbrouck was the goalie. The crowd was chanting ‘Beezer! Beezer! Beezer!’

“When we got home, my mom met us at the door. She said, ‘Peyton, how was the game?’ I said, ‘My name is not Peyton, it’s Beezer.’”

To this day, the family still calls him Beezer.