The snow has melted, the docks are teeming, good Christian boys are home with their mothers. And yet, Boston is mourning.
With so few looking past the four walls of their shops, their factories, and their homes, Boston needs its heroes. Someone to look up and out to. Someone larger than life, who embodies the good Catholic values that built this city. Someone who would have helped Samuel Adams toss the monarchy’s tea off the side of the ship. Someone who can come out of a dust-up at the pub looking as fresh as if he was walking out of church. Someone who works and plays as hard as Irish fishermen and sleeps as soundly as Mother Mary herself.
Who could stand so tall with his head held high and his shoulders back on top of the City on a Hill? Few have, or perhaps ever will, as nobly as Kensington Jones. Sharp as a tack and even sharper with the glove, no one has played the game more beautifully in the history of The Yards. Team captain and do-it-all leader since the inception of the Legacy Baseball League, Ken Jones racked up 1,235 putouts, 2,079 assists, 833 hits, and 475 runs over 8 years of Banshee baseball. That’s 665 games and nearly as many broken hearts.
Jones left small-town Virginia after hearing of the founding of the LBL and immediately commanded the Banshee’s infield. Teammates and coaches have only ever given positive reviews of Jones’ work ethic and leadership and his embrace of the chaos of Boston baseball. Though he never reached all that close to a championship with the Banshees, he always fought tooth and nail to get them there, never once leaving the Yards with a clean jersey. Jones was voted the best shortstop in six of the Eastern Leagues’ eight seasons. Only two short years ago, Jones’s underrated bat led the entire LBL in hits, and though his 1902 effort was his most lackluster, even the most bitter of Bostonians can only envision a long career ahead of the 33-year-old heading to the Twin Cities.
Ken Jones has become today the first fallen hero in the history of Boston Baseball. Shipped out with no immediate and clear return on their investment, Banshees faithful are deeply shaken. Opening day is on April 6th against the visiting Bakers. Today, we celebrate the illustrious career of Boston’s first ballpark hero and look cautiously to a new year. Who will Boston turn to next?