Jimmy Hurst - 2002 Atlantic League Player of the Year

(L) Autographed 2001 Nashua Price WMUR9 Team Set
(R) 2002 Newark Bears Choice Team Set (MVP Card)

Out of Butch Hobson’s hometown of Tuscaloosa, AL, Jimmy Hurst was drafted in the 12^th round of the 1990 Amateur Draft by the Chicago White Sox.

With a professional baseball career that spanned seventeen seasons reaching the Triple-A level with four different organizations and the major leagues in 1997 with the Detroit Tigers, the 6’6” power-hitting outfielder landed in the Atlantic League with Hobson’s Nashua Pride in 2001, but it would be his second year in the league with Newark that would be his season for the record books.

2002 could not have been a more perfect season for Hurst or more of a monster year. Hurst led the league in hits (150), home runs (35), RBI’s (100), total bases (288), batting average (.341) and slugging percentage (.655) while playing in only 113 games on his way to becoming the Atlantic League’s first ever Triple Crown winner.  Hurst’s slugging average mark that year still stands as the Atlantic League single-season record. It was only a formality that Hurst was to be named the 2002 Atlantic League Player of the Year.

In the post season that year, Hurst continued his perfect season, leading his Newark Bears to their first league Championship ever sweeping the Bridgeport Bluefish and being named the championship series MVP as well. 

Justin Jensen - 1999 Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year

Autographed 2004 Somerset Patriot Multi-Ad Team Set #15

Voted the greatest lefthander starting pitcher in Somerset history in their 10^th season anniversary poll, Justin Jensen was the most impactful pitcher in the first 10 years of the franchise.

The Cabrillo College alumnus, and product of the Detroit Tiger farm system, first took the mound for Somerset in the 1999 season and finished the year leading the league in ERA (2.76) compiling a 12-3 record with 111 strikeouts. This effort was rewarded by Jensen being named the 1999 Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year.

Jensen’s championship with the Patriots would come in 2003, when after helping Somerset get to the postseason with a 9-3 regular-season record, he paired with fellow mound mate Brett Jodie pitching back-to-back shutouts sweeping the Riversharks in the divisional playoffs. Somerset would eventually go on to defeat Nashua that year 3 games to 2 in the championship series for their second league title.

Jensen is Somerset’s career leader in innings pitched (527) and second in franchise history in wins (35-24) and strikeouts (385); yielding a 3.62 ERA for his tenure at Somerset.

Jensen was voted the 14th greatest Patriot of all time in a 2012 polling of fans, players, coaches and team officials.