Forgotten Treasures: Randy Jones

In this age of max velocity, and spin rates, and preposterous strikeout rates, it’s hard to believe that a guy damn near won back-to-back Cy Young Awards once he decided to strike out fewer batters, not more. But that’s what happened with a guy named Randy Jones in the mid-1970s.

For a very brief time, Jones was a mid-level big league star. By that I mean he wasn’t a big enough star to be running through airports in Hertz commercials, or to be drinking Lite Beer from Miller with Bob Uecker and Billy Martin. He wasn’t even big enough to have his face printed on cans of Coke or Pepsi. But he was big enough to get his likeness printed on cans of RC Cola.

I found that beautiful thing in an antique store last week and it immediately evoked two thoughts.

The first was that RC Cola, or Royal Crown Cola for those old enough to remember when it was still marketed that way, has been the permanent bronze medalist among all colas ever since it was invented in 1934. That’s 91 years of being third, which is both sad and impressive. Sad because they have no hope of ever passing Coke or Pepsi, impressive because it takes a lot of perseverance to stick around that long knowing that third is your ceiling.