The day that Sam Jones made all the batters
sad
59
years ago yesterday Monongah’s Sam "Toothpick" Jones became the first
African-American to throw a no-hitter in the major league baseball.
Sam led the National League in strikeouts AND walks in
1955, 1956 and 1958, so few batters would dig in on him.
In 1959 he was the
National League's Pitcher of the year.
In 1955 he was the first
African-American to pitch a no-hitter, striking out Dick Groat, Roberto
Clemente and Frank Thomas on 11 pitches after walking the bases loaded in the
ninth inning.
He pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco
Giants, Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.
Samuel Jones was born in Stewartsville, Ohio -- not
Monongah as erroneously reported many times -- and was the son of
a Monongah coal miner who became a parapalegic after a cave-in when Sam
was 13 years old.
After Sam's dad died, he lived with his mother in Grant
Town's The Bottom and played football and basketball at Fairmont's Dunbar High,
the school for Marion County African-Americans during segregation days.
Sam married his sweetheart, Mary Beans, whom he had known
from high school, in 1950.
The Monongah couple had two sons, Sam
"Nick" Jr., born in 1952, and Michael, born in 1954.
He worked for
Tony Sauro's drycleaners in Monongah. Sam also opened the first car-wash in
Monongah, thanks to an investment by Sauro.
Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, in the
1951 Indians spring training camp, taught Sam to not tip off his pitches. Sam
was sticking up his thumb when he was going to throw a curveball. Feller told
him about it, and the thumb stayed the same for all pitches after that.
Sam died Nov. 5, 1971 and is buried in Fairmont's Woodlawn
Cemetery under a headstone that says simply: "Sad Sam 1925-1971." His
birth year is debatable. It may be as early as 1923, but Sam fudged his age to
have a better shot at playing baseball.
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