Relief pitcher Doug Jones may have had the best major league career of anyone who only appeared in four games before his age 29 season. The Brewers drafted Jones in 1978 and he made his professional debut as a token member of the 1982 team, but didn't surface in the majors again until appearing in eleven games for the 1986 Indians.
Flash forward a decade and a half, though, and on this day in 1996 the Brewers signed Jones as a free agent. He was already 39 years old at this point and had posted a 5.01 ERA for the Cubs over 32 innings before being released two weeks earlier.
After a few weeks in AAA Jones was back with the Brewers that August. The next year he served as the Brewers' closer and racked up 36 saves. He ended up pitching in 145 games in his second stint as a Brewer, and after leaving he pitched for two more full seasons before hanging it up as a 43-year-old in 2000. He finished his career with 303 saves, the 21st most of all time.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2006-07 Brewer Chris Spurling, who turns 35.
- 2006 Brewer Corey Koskie, who turns 39.
- 1993 Brewer Kevin Reimer, who turns 47.
- 1970 Brewer Al Dowling, who turns 71.
- Seattle Pilot Fred Talbot, who turns 71.
Today is also the 25th anniversary of Teddy Higuera striking out a career-high 13 in an 11-5 Brewer win over the Blue Jays in 1985. We covered that event in this space last year.