Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1958 • Baseball Clip • Jackie Jensen Interview - Radio

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1958 • Baseball Clip • Jackie Jensen Interview - Radio · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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  This is RetroSports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
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  This is Jackie Jensen of the Boston Red Sox. In a few moments I'll tell you about my greatest
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  sports thrill.
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  This is Harry Wismar. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of baseball's
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  outstanding players. And in the event, our special guest, Jackie Jensen, considers his
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  greatest sports thrill. And Jackie himself is here to tell us all about it. But first,
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  here is Bill Radick with a message of interest from your United States Air Force.
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  In the years to come, Air Force participation in space projects will grow, and so will the
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  number of career fields. So be wise, join the Air Force for valuable training and bright
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  career opportunities. In addition, you will have a chance for foreign travel, receive
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  30-day annual paid vacations, and other extras. Get the full story on the Air Force career
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  tailored to your abilities. See your local Air Force recruiter soon. Now, back to Harry
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  Wismar.
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  It's a long way from the Golden Gate to the Bay State, but in that vast expanse of land,
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  a multitude of sports fans are familiar with the spectacular climb of Jackie Jensen, the
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  Golden Gate's gift to the baseball world, which he'd assumed a stunt that no other athlete
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  in America had ever accomplished before. When the Baseball Writers Association of America
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  officially voted Jackie Jensen, the outstanding player of the American League in 1958, Jensen
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  became the first athlete ever to be named to a football All-American team and the Major
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  League's most valuable player. But even before Jackie won the coveted Duel Honor, he already
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  had become the only athlete ever to play in a Rose Bowl game and the World Series. This
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  quiet, unassuming star from the University of California has been on the threshold of
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  greatness for five years, but it wasn't until the 1958 season when he batted in the most
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  runs in the American League, came close to winning the home-run crown, and defeated such
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  standouts as Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Roy Siebers, Yogi Bara, Bob Turley, and Rocky
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  Calavito for the most valuable player award did Jackie Jensen's exploits captivate the
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  country.
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  Rival managers in the Junior Circuit, Al Lopez and Paul Richards are calling Jensen the best
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  right fielder in the American League. A fearsome right-handed power-hitter, Jackie has developed
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  into one of the best clutch hitters in baseball. The 35 home runs that Jackie Jensen walloped
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  in 1958 were the most he had hit since breaking into Major League baseball in 1950. So were
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  his 122 runs batted in. So was his 535 slugging average. In contrast to previous years when
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  Jensen was the target of a barrage of booing for hitting into a record number of double
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  plays, he is now receiving thunderous applause at Fenway Park in Boston. The booing was unfair,
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  especially when you delve into the vital statistics known as the RBIs and learn that Jackie Jensen
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  knocked in more runs in the start of the 1953 season through the end of the 1958 campaign
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  than any other player in the American League. And that takes in a large order when players
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  like Ted Williams, Mickey Matel, Roy Siever, Jogi Berra and Rocky Calabito had to be considered,
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  for they have been the chief power hitters for the past six years. Jackie Jensen's first
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  Major League team was the New York Yankees and it cost them a lot of money to land him,
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  but he came to the Boston Red Sox for a great deal less. His travel ticket was via Washington,
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  which had acquired him from the Yankees back in 1952. In December 1953, he was shipped to
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  the Boston Club in a three for one deal, one of the best that Boston General Manager Joe
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  Cronin ever made. During his years with the Red Sox, Jackie Jensen has driven in 555 runs
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  and has hit 11211 RBIs and 25 home runs a season. When Jensen reported to the Yankees
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  St. Petersburg Spring Training Camp in 1950, he was immediately the big thrill of reporting
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  to the Yankees was Jackie Jensen's chance to be a teammate of his hometown hero Joe DiMaggio,
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  and he showed it in his hitting. Jackie tied Joe in exhibition game homers, but when the
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  regular season started at the stadium, Jensen was strictly utility. In fact, at times, Manager
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  Casey Stengel wondered what kind of deal the Yankees had made in obtaining this great
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  Pacific Coast football hero. In 1950, Jackie Jensen managed to get into 45 games and hit
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  a miserable 171. However, he did make the World Series, but only by asking. In the eighth inning
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  of the third game against the Phillies, Bobby Brown reached first on an error when he batted
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  for Hank Bauer. The score was tied at the time to all. Brown wasn't much of a runner,
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  and when Stengel was looking over the bench, Jackie jumped up, yelled, I'll run, and was
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  out there on first base before anybody could stop him. Jensen was that anxious to get into
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  the game. In 1951, Stengel sent Jensen to Kansas City. He begged Stengel to move him
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  to San Francisco under the tutelage of lefty O'Dull, but the Yankee manager refused. When
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  he was recalled in midseason, Jensen did all right. He banged out eight homers and finished
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  with a 298 average in 56 games. When Jackie Jensen reported his spring training in 1952,
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  he felt that he had no chance to make the club. Where could he fit in the lineup with
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  Mickey Mantle, Hank Bauer, and Gene Woodling in the outfield? He was ready to give up baseball
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  and try out for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League. Yet, when the
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  Yankees broke camp, Jackie Jensen, not Mickey Mantle, opened the season in center field
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  for New York. Jensen had a great spring, pounding the ball to all parts of the outfield, and
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  with Mantle not fully recovered from his leg injury sustained in the World Series the previous
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  October, Stengel was happily settling for the golden boy of California. But one month
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  later, Jackie Jensen was traded to Washington. When he arrived in Washington, manager Bucky
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  Harris immediately placed Jackie in right field and bodied him in the third spot. Harris's
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  psychology was quickly rewarded. Jensen put together a 21-game hitting streak that Zoom
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  deserved his average to 305 by early July and was named to the American League All-Star
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  team. In 1953, Washington, in need of a pitcher, sent Jackie Jensen to the Boston Red Sox.
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  It was the nicest thing that ever happened to Jensen and the Red Sox. Playing alongside
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  Ted Williams has inspired Jackie Jensen, and today he is considered one of the most dangerous
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  hitters in the American League. And if what he showed in 1958 is any indication, the golden
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  boy from the Golden Gate will be around for many years to come. Truly, an all-American
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  boy, no matter what field he plays on. Now, before you meet our special guest, Jackie
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  Jensen in person and hear about his greatest sports thrill, here is a message of interest
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  to all young men with an eye on the future.
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  High school graduates, have you ever met your local Air Force recruiter? If not, you'll
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  be favorably impressed when you do. First of all, your local recruiter has all the facts
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  and figures about the new age of space and the many interesting job openings in the Air
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  Force. Your recruiter will point out the fine technical training available in over 40 career
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  fields, and he'll give you the full story on the many space age advances being developed
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  by the Air Force. For example, the radical new jet bombers and fighters, the X-15 space
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  plane, the Titan Intercontinental Missile. The Air Force Space Age picture is an exciting
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  one, and it can also be especially rewarding for you. If after seeing your local recruiter,
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  you decide to join, you will serve with a fine group of men. So, see your local recruiter
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  today and find out about your place in the expanding space age of tomorrow in the U.S.
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  Air Force. And now, back to Harry Wismar.
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  Jackie Jensen, what was your greatest sports thrill?
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  Well, I have to tell you, I played on the same baseball team with Joe DiMaggio and the
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  same baseball team with Ted Williams. Those were childhood idols of mine, and to think
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  some day in my career that I was able to play with them in the same outfield has been one
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  of the biggest thrills in my life. Of course, I have one other thrill that occurred in 1958,
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  and that was receiving the Most Valuable Player Award, and it happened to be my chance, and
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  I was fortunate enough to get it.
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  Jackie, having come into the majors as a New York Yankee, do you think that being traded
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  away may have helped you develop sooner as a ball player?
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  Yes and no. I did get the opportunity to play regularly down in Washington. I enjoyed that,
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  and I'm sure with the experience that I received down there, it helped immensely with the past
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  seasons I've had with the Boston Red Sox. Possibly, no, only because I'd like to have
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  stayed with the Yankees because they are Mr. Baseball of Baseball, and the opportunities
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  to be in a World Series are pretty regular. I think that's another dream that any Major
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  League ball player has and has to play in a World Series.
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  Jackie, does that short left field wall in Fenway Park favor the right-handed hitters
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  as much as they say it does?
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  Well, I have to give you another yes and no on that, Harry. It proves quite a problem
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  to a right-handed hitter if the pitcher that is on the mound at the time is capable and
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  has good control and can more or less tease you with balls that are outside, and you still
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  try to hit that wall, try to pull the ball, and consequently a lot of times you just pop
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  up or ground the ball into the dirt. I'll have to say that it certainly has helped me.
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  Balls that I hit in left center and in dead center field are up against the wall and sometimes
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  over it. Generally speaking, if you have enough experience at playing Fenway Park, you certainly
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  can take advantage of it.
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  Jackie, having been a teammate of Ted Williams for so many years, give us a little insight
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  on this man.
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  I have a very prejudiced opinion, Harry, since I've seen very few of the real great hitters
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  that have been ball players in the past, like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth and Garrick and the
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  rest of them. I've only had the opportunity to see fellows like Johnny Meis and Joe DiMaggio
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  and Ted, and there's no doubt in my mind that Ted's the greatest hitter that I've ever
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  seen, and of course he has the records approved that he's probably one of the greatest hitters
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  that ever lived.
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  Do you recall the first pitcher you ever faced as a Major Leaguer?
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  When I went to pinch hit with a New York Yankees in 1950, I was as nervous as a cat in a room
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  full of dogs, and I'm sure that I couldn't remember anything at that time except other
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  than I'm trying to swing the bat and hit the ball. I don't remember the name of the pitcher,
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  no.
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  Having played for two other clubs, the Yankees and Washington, do you find yourself giving
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  out with just a little extra against former teammates?
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  No, I may give out a little bit more against the Yankees only because you have to do that
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  in order to beat them. They're a good ball club and they play sound baseball and you
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  try not to make any mistakes because the mistakes that you make are the ones that they take
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  advantage of. I just try to bear down at all times. One club is the same as the other,
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  this is a job to us and we try to do the best we can.
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  What manager, Jackie, coach or player, has been most helpful in your development as a
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  ball player?
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  Well, at the time that my development actually took root, so to speak, it was with my first
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  year with the Yankees and I was very fortunate in having one of the finest baseball managers
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  in baseball with the club then and still is Casey Stangle. He's a real good manager on
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  fundamentals and to me that is the biggest thing in baseball. Whenever a slump occurs
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  or you don't seem to be going right, you just try to revert back to the fundamentals that
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  have been taught to you and that's something that Casey tries and strives to teach his
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  young ball players his fundamentals and fundamentals and to me Casey taught me quite a bit and
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  naturally when I was traded to Washington I was able to use a little bit of these fundamentals
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  and consequently it has benefited me through the years. I think he's a real fine manager
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  with a real fine organization.
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  As a ball player, the fellow that helped me was an outfielder with the New York Yankees
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  at the time and fellow that I have a great amount of respect and because I was a rookie
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  and he was a veteran but took time enough to help me as much as he could and help me
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  in more ways than one and that was Gene Woodling, a real fine gentleman and a fine Major League
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  baseball player.
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  Thank you very much Jackie Johnson and the Boston Red Sox, one of baseball's outstanding
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  players.