100 Greatest Phillies: 65 – Willie Jones

Willie Jones
Third Baseman
1947-1959

Career w/Phillies: .258 AVG / 180 HR / 753 RBI / 39 SB

Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones. Yes, the best nickname in Phillies history – Jones got the name from a popular 1930s song, “‘Wooden Head, Puddin’ Head Jones.” Well, that stinks. Still, Jones was a pretty solid offensive popular, and helped the Whiz Kids as a 24-year-old, scoring 100 runs for the only time in his career and reaching a career-high 163 hits and 25 home runs. Because of his 13-year tenure with the Phillies, Jones ranks 15th in team history in hits and 10th in home runs, though he’ll soon be surpassed by Ryan Howard, who is just three behind him. He was also a great clutch hitter, but most of all, he was a fantastic glove. He led third basemen in fielding percentage seven consecutive years, and is among all-time leaders in putouts.

Comment: I could probably rank Jones in the top 50, but his offense was merely average, taking some of the shine off his superb defense. I will say that with the listing of Jones, we’re staring to enter solid territory.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.