Remembering Randy Jones

Sad news for San Deigns who remember Randy Jones, the left-handed pitcher with buckets of charisma who passed away this week at just 75.

Jones, whose improbable “everyman” celebrity nearly eclipsed his legendary pitching skills, was fondly remembered by sports mavens nationally and locally. 

Luckily, I happen to know one of those sports mavens very well, if our readers will indulge me.

My dad, Bruce Binkowski, was the San Diego Padres’ official stadium announcer for many years and therefore knew Jones, so I asked him if he had any memories to share. He did.

“I knew Randy Jones for many years,” he told me. “I did the public address announcing for many of his games and after his playing days, he was a Padres ambassador. Every interaction I had with Randy was positive.

“He was one of the nicest people I ever met in the business… always friendly, warm, outgoing, and not a bad word about anybody. 

“Randy Jones was one of the good ones.” 

May we all be remembered this way.

We’ve also got some news on a topic I think we were all hoping the city would forget about: paid parking at Balboa Park.

City officials backtracked on the initially proposed parking pass prices for residents versus non-residents, cutting the yearly residential rate in half.

Officials also brought down the yearly rates for non-residents, but increased the quarterly rate’s cost. If your eyes are crossing reading that, our Tessa Balc does an excellent job making it make sense.

Unfortunately, we’ll still be paying for parking.