A friendship for the ages
The enduring bond between Miracle Met Cleon Jones and his inspiration, Jackie Robinson
NEW YORK — Cleon Jones, hero of the 1969 Miracle Mets, recalls his two introductions to Jackie Robinson: The first as a 6-year-old Alabama kid, listening to his hero’s Brooklyn exploits over the airwaves.
And the second as a major leaguer in Shea Stadium, a dream made possible by Robinson’s courage and grit.
“My grandmother and great-grandmother, they were baseball fans,” recounts Jones, who grew up in segregated Mobile. “They used to sit around their radio and pull for Jackie Robinson. I idolized and worshipped him as a kid.”
Twodecades later, Robinson stopped by to visit Mets manager Gil Hodges — his friend from their days with the Dodgers. Jones was out on the field, along with Black teammates Ed Charles and Tommy Agee, as Robinson looked from the dugout at his living legacy.
“Just watching batting practice, just to be a part of what he created,” recalled Jones. “To see the Black players on the team, participating and succeeding in their craft.”
For Jones, Robinson remains both role model and inspiration, a pioneer and an enduring icon. Jones, now 78, will celebrate the 74th anniversary of Robinson’s April 15, 1947, shattering of baseball’s racial barrier by doing what he learned from his idol: Making a better future for their people while remembering the past.
“Some things are God-sent, like Jackie,” he mused. “He was a man for that era. I knew all there was to known about Jackie by the time I met him. My first words to him were, ‘If my grandmother and great-grandmother saw me sittingbesideyou,they’dbebesidethemselves.’”
Left fielder Jones was the best hitter on the 1969 World Champions, batting .340 to finish behind only Pete Rose and Roberto Clemente among National Leaguers. Jones caught the last out of the ‘69 World Series, famously kneeling in left field as the Shea Stadium crowd ran onto the field.
Amidst the wild jubilation, Jones though of Jackie.
“When the ball started down, I realized this was a unique position for all of us,” he recalled. “And it was all because of Jackie Robinson. He deserved a knee and a prayer. It was part of a saga bigger than all of us.”
Robinson died in 1972, just four years after their meeting at Shea Stadium. He was only 53 years old, and Jones believes the stress of breaking the color line contributed to Robinson’s early passing.