Gary Jones (manager)
Gary Wayne Jones is an American minor league baseball manager and a former coach in Major League Baseball. Jones was the third base coach of the Chicago Cubs from 2014 to 2017. In, he returned to managing as the skipper of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Triple-A International League affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Prior to his appointment to the 2014 coaching staff of then-Cub manager Rick Renteria, Jones spent seven years as the roving minor league infield instructor for the San Diego Padres, where Renteria had been a Major League coach. He was retained when Joe Maddon replaced Renteria as the Cubs' manager in October 2014 for the season, and in entered his fourth season as the Cubs' third-base coach, including service on 2016's National League and World Series championship team.
Until he became the Cubs' third base coach, Jones had spent one season in a Major League uniform out of his 32 years in professional baseball—, as the first-base coach of the Oakland Athletics.
In joining the Cubs, Jones returned to his first MLB organization. Chicago originally signed him as a 21-year-old free agent infielder in 1982 out of the University of Arkansas. Jones played for seven years in the Cubs and Athletics farm systems, including two seasons with the Triple-A Tacoma Tigers, and batted.283 with nine home runs in 899 minor league games between 1982 and 1989. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed.
After retiring as a player, he was a manager in the Oakland, Boston Red Sox, and San Diego organizations. From 1990–97, 1999–2001 and 2003–06, Jones led teams in the International League, Pacific Coast League, Southern League, Midwest League, and Arizona Fall League. He managed the Madison Muskies, Huntsville Stars, Edmonton Trappers, Pawtucket Red Sox, Fort Wayne Wizards and Mobile BayBears. He served the Red Sox as coordinator of minor league instruction in.
Jones led the Stars to the Southern League championship in 1994 and the Trappers to back-to-back Pacific Coast League championships in 1996 and 1997. He also won Manager-of-the-Year Awards in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1997. In his first season with Lehigh Valley, he led the 2018 IronPigs to an 84–56 win–loss record and the International League North Division championship, although his team was eliminated in the opening round of the Governors' Cup playoffs. Through 2018, his career mark as a minor league manager was 1,124–1,028.
