A deadly hitter and a fielder whose glove was called “the place where triples go to die,” Shoeless Joe Jackson carved a name for himself in baseball history for his monumental skills and on-field achievements. But his legacy remains a sad one, tainted by association with the infamous “Black Sox Scandal” of the 1919 World Series. In response to suspicions that the White Sox had thrown the series under the influence of sports bookies, baseball commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned Joe Jackson and seven of his teammates for life, sending a no-tolerance message regarding the presence of betting in baseball.
Of all the players, Jackson’s involvement in the conspiracy seemed the least plausible, as his on-field stats were sparkling — a .375 batting average and a perfect fielding percentage during the series. A jury later acquitted Jackson of the charges, and despite holding the third highest lifetime batting average in baseball history at .356, the legendary outfielder remains an outcast from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Biography
On July 16, 1888, the future “Shoeless Joe” was born Joseph Jefferson Jackson in Pickens County, South Carolina, as the eldest of George and Martha Jackson’s eight children. As a child Joe worked alongside his father in a textile mill in Brandon Mill, SC, and by 13 was starring on the mill’s baseball team.
Jackson began playing semipro ball at age 18 and quickly advanced to the minors. It was here that he earned his nickname “Shoeless Joe,” based on the fact that he discarded a pair of bothersome new spikes in the middle of a game and played the rest of the way in his stocking feet.
Jackson plied his trade as a minor leaguer, (playing occasionally in the big leagues from 1908-1910) developing a swing so pure that Babe Ruth admitted to copying it and a throwing arm that could burn a runner at home plate from some 400 feet away. 1911 marked his first full season in the majors, where Jackson batted a remarkable .408 for the Cleveland Indians, setting a rookie record that still stands. In 1915, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox, and went on to help the team to a six-game victory over the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series. He remained a force at the plate throughout his career, collecting 1774 hits and 785 runs-batted-in.
After his expulsion from the majors, Joe and wife Katherine settled in Savannah, Georgia, where he opened a successful dry cleaning operation and continued to play baseball for semipro and industrial league teams in the area. In 1929, the Jacksons moved to Greenville, SC, where they would reside until his death on December 5th, 1951. Jackson remains a hero in his home state and among diehard baseball fans, many of whom campaign relentlessly to have the great player officially enshrined in baseball’s legion of honor.
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