Jacque Jones grew up in San Diego and spent endless hours on the baseball diamond learning the fundamentals of baseball and foundational life lessons weaved into the game. His uncle encouraged Jacque play with the older, bigger kids at his local park which forced Jacque to toughen up and improve his skills. By the time he entered high school it was clear Jacque was an elite athlete with a future in baseball. Surprisingly he was looked by many college programs and not heavily recruited, until he was offered a full ride to USC by Frank Cruz and Mike Gillespie Jacque was in the starting line up as a true freshman and quickly established himself as one of the best players in the nation. In 1994 he hit legendary status after hitting 3 home runs against LSU in Baton Rouge in the NCAA regional finals. In 1995 he helped lead USC to a national championship where they were beat by Cal State Fullerton who had a kid named Mark Kotsay (currently the Oakland A’s Manager) who was the 1995 college player of the year and had a extraordinary 17 year major league career. Jacque was drafted in the 2nd round by the Minnesota Twins and selected to team USA in 1996 where he put up video game numbers hitting .404 with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs in 37 games.
Jacque had an impressive 10 year big league career with a career batting average of .277, with 165 homers, 630 RBI, .326 OBP and a .448 SLGs selected. A long with Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart he made up what was known to be the best outfield in Major League Baseball. He was put on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2014 but did not receive enough votes. After retiring from Baseball he spent a few more years in the game as a hitting coach before moving on to other entrepreneurial and philanthropic pursuits. His All Hands on Deck foundation (www.Allhandsondeck11.com) is a charity that mentors, supports and provides resources for underprivileged inner city teenagers in San Diego.
In this episode Jacque takes us through his baseball journey starting as a kid in San Diego, his impactful college years and USC and his impressive big league career. This is an inside look on what it takes to become a major league baseball player and how to use the power of the platform to give back to your community. School is in session!
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To learn more about All Hands on Deck foundation please go to www.allhandsondeck11.com and donate.
Jacque Jones
http://instagram.com/jacquejones1128
http://www.allhandsondeck11.com
Danny Brown
http://instagram.com/dannybrownla
http://www,dannybrownla.com
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