Red Sox Mirror Image: Mookie Betts to Jackie Jensen

Mirroring Red Sox players of the present with one from my memories of the past. This is the right fielders – Mookie Betts and Jackie Jensen.

There is very little that Mookie Betts has not accomplished in his professional career and even his non-professional career, but when I look at Betts I think of other great Red Sox right-fielders and one is Jackie Jensen. I could have chosen Dwight Evans, but as a teenager my goal was to be Mickey Mantle or Jackie Jensen.

Betts is a unique talent and if he stays healthy and in Boston may be the eventual greatest of all Red Sox.  Betts exceeds Jensen in every category on the baseball playing field with the exception of run production, but that – of course – is all attached to the batting order.  So if this is a simple “who is better?” that can be set aside since it is no contest, but Jensen was still something special.

More from Red Sox History

• Two notable Red Sox anniversaries highlight current organizational failures
• Contemporary Era Committee doesn’t elect any former Red Sox to Hall of Fame
• Johnny Damon calls Red Sox out, reveals hilarious way he skirted Yankees’ grooming policy
• Remembering the best Red Sox Thanksgiving ever
• Red Sox World Series legends headline 2023 Hall of Fame ballot

Jensen is lost in history as just a fragmented name from Red Sox teams that accomplished little except to reinforce a well noted years of dysfunction – the famous twenty-five cabs for twenty-five players, but the right-hand Jensen was  a legitimate five-tool talent.

Betts and Jensen both earned MVP Awards playing for the Red Sox but the athletic talent of Jensen was also on full display in college football where he played in a Rose Bowl game as a running back.  In 1949, Jensen – a two-sport college All-American – finished fourth in the  Heisman trophy race.  Prior to that his school – The University of California – won the inaugural College World Series with Jensen as a star pitcher and outfielder. But back to Boston.

Jensen arrived in Boston in 1954 as part of a trade with the Washington Senators and was inserted into center field with Jim Piersall in right-field.  Jensen made an immediate impact, hitting 25 home runs and accounting for 117 RBI.  Jensen also accomplished a rarity for any Red Sox player and led the American League in steals with 22.

In 1955, Jensen switched positions with Piersall and led the AL with 116 RBI, made the All-Star team, and hit .275. In his first six Boston seasons, Jensen surpassed 100+ RBI with a career-high 122 RBI in his 1958 MVP season.  In 1959, Jensen again led the AL with 112 RBI, won a Gold Glove, made the All-Star team and promptly retired at just 32-years-old.

This is another area where Betts and Jensen have a connection – flying.  Betts earned his pilot’s license and Jensen had such a fear of flying that he simply quit the game rather than continually expose himself to the trauma of flying which had now become the mode of transportation in MLB.

Jensen sat out the 1960 season and was enticed to return for 1961 but his game had deteriorated and Jensen hit just .263 with 63 RBI. That led to a second retirement and this one was for keeps.  In seven Boston seasons, Jensen hit .282 and slammed 170 home runs with 733 RBI before moving on to a career in broadcasting and coaching.

Jensen was a great outfielder – not as accomplished as Betts, but with an arm that was Betts’ equal or surpassed it. Betts is quicker to the ball than the Jensen I remember and has an edge going to his right, but Jensen had double-digits in outfield assists every Boston season.

Jensen died of a heart attack at age 55 and in 2000 was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame – just one of many HOF’s that Jensen is a member of.