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Jackie quit professional baseball twice. The first time was in 1959, at the height of his career. He had been named an American League MVP, had appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and had led the league three times in RBIs and in stolen bases or stolen base average. Traded from the Yankees to play with the Senators, then the Red Sox, Jackie's name appeared twenty-six times in the record books among the top five players in various categories. Jackie returned to baseball in 1961, but quit for the last time after the season ended.
The real story of Jackie Jensen lies in how he handled adversity, how he helped others and others aided him, how he lived with difficult - often wrong - decisions, and how his character set him apart from other athletes. This biography follows Jack not only through his collegiate and professional sports careers, but also as he grew up during the Depression in Oakland, twice married and divorced an Olympic diving champion, plummeted from wealth to poverty, and finally found his niche as a tree farmer and a coach at a private school in rural Virginia.
