The Decade’s Best: No. 27 Warner Jones

Warner Jones
Wareham 2003 & 2004
Infielder
Vanderbilt

The Wareham Gatemen played 77 games in 2003 and 2004.

Warner Jones played in every single one of them. More importantly for our purposes, he had a hit in a whole lot of them.

The Ironman is also the decade’s Hit King. Jones had 64 hits in 2003, a high for the decade, and he added 57 more in 2004. There wasn’t much power or run production. For that matter, there weren’t many walks — 10 in 77 games. It’s no coincidence that Jones ranks third and fourth in single-season at-bats in the Cape League record books.

But I don’t think anybody minded that Jones was taking his swings. He was practically an institution for the Gatemen, and their lineup wouldn’t have been the same without him.

Jones came to Wareham after his freshman season at Vanderbilt and delivered one of the best offensive seasons in the league that year. He finished third in batting average at .344 and led the league in hits. He had 11 doubles, two triples and a home run.

In his sophomore year at Vandy, Jones delivered more of the same, playing in every game for the Commodores, leading the nation in hits and finishing with a .414 batting average. Back in Wareham for the summer of 2004, Jones hit .303 with 16 doubles and 21 RBI, led the league in hits again and earned all-league honors for the second year in a row.

After the Cape

This portion of Jones’ story is different from most on this list. After earning first-team All-American honors as a junior, Jones was drafted in the 17th round of the 2005 draft by the Detroit Tigers. He chose not to sign, but it had nothing to do with leverage or a desire to play another year in college. Jones went to law school an decided not to pursue a baseball career. He kept a blog going for awhile and now works for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Nashville.

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