James Dalton Jones was from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. While growing up, baseball was an integral part of his life. Family vacations often centered on baseball and the Jones family would travel to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play and traveled to Kansas City and even to Cleveland, to see the Red Sox play on the road. Consequently, as a youngster, Dalton became a Stan Musial fan and a Ted Williams fan.

Dalton also benefited from countless one-on-one sessions with his father, who always had time to hit fungoes or throw batting practice. When scouts started flocking around the 14-year-old, it was his father who kept everything in the “right perspective”.

He was a star shortstop for his high school team in Baton Rouge, the Istrouma Indians. In 1961, he led Istrouma to the Louisiana state championship game. After graduation, the Red Sox signed him and he immediately reported to the Alpine (Texas) Cowboys of the Class-D Sophomore League, managed by former Red Sox pitching great Mel Parnell. In his first professional game, Dalton hit two triples off the 425-foot fence. The next year, he was promoted to Double-A York (Pennsylvania) and the young shortstop led the league in triples with 13.

In 1963, after a very good spring training in which he nearly made the Red Sox opening day roster, Dalton was sent to the Triple -A Seattle Rainiers. There he switched to second base with the emergence of Rico Petrocelli (who would be his’ roommate in the major leagues), and had a decent year.

Spring training in 1964 was a very good one. As spring training marched on, however, Dalton was still with the big club and learned he was heading north to Boston.

He made his major-league debut in the home opener at Fenway Park and contributed his first major-league hit, an RBI triple. It was in the game that also featured another Red Sox rookie, Tony Conigliaro who homered.

1964 proved to be an acceptable debut year for Dalton. The highlight of his season came on May 19th at Fenway Park against the Los Angeles Angels. The Sox were losing 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Dalton, who had not played in the game to this point, kept walking in front of manager Johnny Pesky to get noticed. Pesky relented and told him he would bat for Red Sox pitcher Bob Heffner.

Dick Stuart walked and then went to third on Tony Conigliaro’s double. A hit batsman and another walk produced a run that left the bases loaded for Dalton. He whistled a double which cleared the bases, giving the Sox a walk-off victory, 4-3. It helped propel him into a role for which he would achieve some fame, at least among Red Sox fans, as a clutch pinch-hitter.

The next two years were lackluster seasons for the Red Sox. When Frank Malzone hurt his foot early in the season, manager Billy Herman put Dalton at third base, and he played so well, that he earned the starting spot against right-handed pitching after Malzone returned.

Highlights for the season include a five-hit day against the Senators in Washington on July 9th and an RBI triple off Luis Tiant, providing the only run Dave Morehead would need when he pitched his no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on September 16th.

Nine days later, in another historic moment, Dalton batted and reached on an error against the 59-year-old Satchel Paige in Kansas City.

In 1966, Dalton lost his starting third base job to rookie Joe Foy, and his offensive production dropped off. It was a struggle all year for him.

His highlight for the year came on July 6th in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. With the score tied, 3-3, he batted for the pitcher in the ninth inning, and hit a one-out, two-run home run to make the score 5-3, which held up when the Yankees were retired in the bottom of the inning.

Dalton became a man without a position in 1967 and was relegated almost entirely to pinch-hitting. Rookie Mike Andrews was the starter at second, while Foy held down the hot corner. But when Foy was in Dick Williams’ doghouse for being overweight late in April, Dalton had five consecutive starts and responded by hitting .368 during that stretch, scoring at least one run in each game with the Sox winning four of the five games.

Also in 1967, with the war in Vietnam raging, the Red Sox and other teams were keen to keep their players out of the military draft. They made sure all of their eligible players were assigned to Reserve units. So Jim Lonborg, Dalton, and other players did two-week stints during the season.

The Red Sox in 1967 had been much chronicled. Even though his playing time was limited, Dalton made the most of his spot starts and pinch-hitting opportunities. It should be remembered that his clutch hitting, especially pinch-hitting late in the season were integral parts of the Sox historic rise.

On May 24th, in a rare start, Dalton homered off Denny McLain and gave Jim Lonborg, who blanked the Tigers, a 1-0 win. Between June and September, Dalton started in only one game.

Then, on September 18th, the Red Sox played the Tigers in Detroit again. Going into the game, the Sox were trailing the first-place Tigers by one game. Dalton got the start at third, because he hit well in Tiger Stadium and had hit that home run off McLain. The move to start him paid off. He had four hits in five at-bats with two RBIs, including a 10th-inning home run. He also speared Bill Freehan’s line drive for the final out in the bottom of the 10th, giving the Red Sox a 6-5 victory and a share of first place.

On September 24th, he got the start at third again. This time he went 4-for-6 with a double and triple and five RBIs as the Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-7.

When the Red Sox had to beat the Twins on the final two games of the 1967 season, to ensure at least a playoff game for the American League pennant, Dalton had another key role. In the second to last game, with the Twins leading 1-0, Dalton had a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the fifth inning, moving Reggie Smith to third. Jerry Adair knocked in Reggie and Yaz brought in Dalton for the go-ahead run. The Sox never trailed after that and won, 6-4, giving them a share of first place with the Twins.

In the last game of the regular season, Dalton got the start at third and had two hits in four at-bats, including a single to keep the rally going in the five-run sixth inning. He scored one of the five Red Sox runs as they beat the Twins 5-3. The win completed the Sox "Miracle Dream"

Given that he had so few starts in the regular season, it seemed somewhat surprising he started four of the seven World Series games. With that vote of confidence, Dalton responded and hit .389 for the Series, second only to Yaz among Sox hitters.

He had a key pinch hit in Game #6, with the Red Sox facing elimination. With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the score tied at 4-4, Dalton was sent up to pinch-hit and singled to right field. Foy brought him in with a double to left, for the go-ahead run. The Red Sox went on to score four in the inning, won the game, and forced a Game #7 the next day.

He pinch-hit in the eighth inning of the deciding game, with the Red Sox down, 7-1, and drew a walk. He stayed in the game to play third in the top of the ninth.

Dalton started the first six games of the 1968 season at third base, but was batting only .071, when Foy got the third base job back. By midseason, George Scott was struggling at the plate, so Dalton started at first, played there in 55 of the final 88 Red Sox games and acquitted himself very well.

While his fielding was improving, his batting average was going in the other direction. One bright spot however, was his specialty, pinch-hitting. He had 11 pinch hits and a .407 average, but struck out 53 times, a career high.

As the offensive struggles continued, Dalton put more and more pressure on himself and he played worse. Finally, in December 1969, the Red Sox traded him to the Detroit Tigers for utility infielder Tom Matchick.

Dalton hit .243 with the Red Sox, but hit well in pressure situations, compiling a .271 average as a pinch-hitter. He remains the Red Sox all-time pinch-hit leader with 55.