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| Screenshot from Fox WS Broadcast |
The MBL first-round pick in 2012 played for Marion’s now defunct Bobcats in the 2010 season of the Ohio Valley Collegiate League.
Jankowski played mostly a utility outfielder role this season and had not started a game since early September when he was thrust into the lineup for the last two World Series games, following an injury to post-season star Adolis Garcia.
Jankowski hit ninth and played right field in two starts for Games 4 and 5. He had other brief appearances in the postseason as a pinch runner, pinch hitter or defensive replacement in the outfield.
In Game 4, Jankowski helped spark a couple of five-run innings with a single, double, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. The Rangers won both games Jankowski started.
His major league career has included play for six different teams.
As a Marion Bobcat in 2010, Jankowski led the league in hitting and stolen bases. While in Marion his living arrangements were hosted by the Marion United Methodist Church parsonage and then-pastor Wayne Garvey.
Gordon Guess, who founded the Marion Bobcats baseball team and was instrumental in starting the Ohio Valley Collegiate League, remembers picking Jankowski up at the airport in Nashville when he joined the team from Stoney Brook University. The college is near Jankowski's hometown of Lancaster, Pa.
"I introduced him to grits on the drive from the airport to Nashville," Guess recalls.
Marion resident Kory Wheeler, who was head of Marion's baseball operations when the Bobcats were located here, was in Arizona as a guest of Jankowski during Wednesday night's decisive Game 5.
"Marion has a World Champion," she said right after the final out was made and Texas beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the best-of-seven series.
During his MLB career, Jankowski has also played for the San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners.
