Shoeless Joe Jackson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Shoeless Joe Jackson |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jackson with the Naps in 1913
|
|||
| Outfielder | |||
| Born: July 16, 1887 Pickens County, South Carolina |
|||
| Died: December 5, 1951 (aged 64) Greenville, South Carolina |
|||
|
|||
| debut | |||
| August 25, 1908, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| September 27, 1920, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .356 | ||
| Hits | 1,772 | ||
| Home runs | 54 | ||
| Runs batted in | 785 | ||
| Teams | |||
|
|||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
|
|||
Joseph Jefferson Jackson (born July 16, 1888 – died December 5, 1951), known as "Shoeless Joe", was a famous American outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in the early 1900s. People remember him for his amazing skills on the field. They also remember him for his connection to the Black Sox Scandal. This was when some players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox team cheated to lose the World Series on purpose.
Because of this scandal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of MLB, banned Jackson from playing after the 1920 season. This happened even though Jackson played very well in the 1919 World Series. He led both teams in many stats and set a World Series record with 12 hits. Since then, many people have argued about whether Jackson was truly guilty. Some new stories say he was innocent and want MLB to let him play again. The scandal ended Jackson's career when he was at his best. This made him a lasting part of baseball history.
Jackson played for three Major League teams during his 12-year career. He was with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1908 to 1909. In 1910, he played for the minor league New Orleans Pelicans. He then joined the Cleveland Naps at the end of 1910. He stayed in Cleveland until part of 1915. From 1915 to 1920, he played for the Chicago White Sox. Later in his life, Jackson played baseball in the southern United States using different names.
Jackson mostly played left field. He has the third-highest career batting average in Major League history. In 1911, Jackson hit for a .408 average. This is still the sixth-highest single-season average since 1901. That year also set a record for the highest batting average by a rookie. Even Babe Ruth said he learned his hitting style from Jackson.
Jackson still holds team records for the Indians and White Sox. These include the most triples in a season and the highest career batting average. In 1999, he was ranked number 35 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Fans also voted him the 12th-best outfielder of all time.
Contents
Joe Jackson's Early Life and Baseball Start
Joseph Jackson was born in Pickens County, South Carolina. He was the oldest son in his family. His father, George, was a sharecropper, a farmer who paid rent with crops. The family moved to Pelzer, South Carolina, when Joe was a baby. A few years later, they moved to a company town called Brandon Mill. This town was near Greenville, South Carolina. When he was 10, he got very sick with measles. He was in bed for two months, unable to move, while his mother cared for him.
From age 6 or 7, Jackson worked in a textile mill. He was called a "linthead," which was a common name for mill workers. His family needed money, so Joe worked 12-hour shifts. Education was expensive, so Jackson did not go to school. Not being able to read or write caused problems for Jackson his whole life. It even affected how much his signed items were worth. Because he couldn't read or write, his wife often signed things for him. So, anything actually signed by Jackson himself is very rare and valuable. One signed item sold for $23,500 in 1990. In restaurants, he would wait for his teammates to order. Then he would order one of the same things he heard them say.
In 1900, when he was 13, the owner of the Brandon Mill asked his mother if Joe could play for the mill's baseball team. He was the youngest player on the team. He earned $2.50 to play on Saturdays. He started as a pitcher. But one day, he accidentally broke another player's arm with a very fast pitch. After that, no one wanted to bat against him. So, the team manager moved him to the outfield. His amazing hitting made him famous in town. Around that time, he got a baseball bat he called Black Betsy. People compared him to Champ Osteen, another player from the mills who made it to the Major Leagues. He moved between different mill teams to earn more money. By 1905, he was playing semi-professional baseball.
How Joe Jackson Got His Nickname
In an interview from 1949, Jackson explained how he got his nickname. It happened during a mill game in Greenville, South Carolina. Jackson had painful blisters on his foot from new cleats. They hurt so much that he took his shoes off before he went to bat. As the game continued, a fan saw Jackson running to third base in his socks. The fan yelled, "You shoeless son of a gun, you!" From that day on, the nickname "Shoeless Joe" stayed with him.
Joe Jackson's Professional Baseball Career
Starting in Professional Baseball
In 1908, Jackson began his professional baseball journey. He played for the Greenville Spinners in the Carolina Association. That year, he also married 15-year-old Katie Wynn. Soon after, he signed with Connie Mack to play for the Philadelphia Athletics.
Playing for his hometown team, Jackson hit .346 in 1908. He led the Carolina Association in batting average, hits, and runs batted in (RBI). He earned $75.00 a month with the Greenville Spinners. In August 1908, Connie Mack bought Jackson's contract for $900.00. Jackson immediately joined the Athletics and played his first Major League game.
For his first two years, Jackson found it hard to live with the Athletics. Some say he didn't like the big city. Others say his teammates bothered him. Because of this, he spent a lot of time in the minor leagues. Between 1908 and 1909, Jackson played in only 10 MLB games. In 1909, he played 118 games for the South Atlantic League's Savannah Indians. He batted .358 that year.
The Athletics traded Jackson to the Cleveland Naps in 1910. He spent most of 1910 with the New Orleans Pelicans. He won the batting title there and helped his team win the championship. Later that season, he was called up to the Major League team. He played in 20 games and hit .387.
Playing in the Major Leagues
In 1911, Jackson's first full MLB season, he set many rookie records. His .408 batting average that season is still a record for rookies. It was the second-best average in the league, just behind Ty Cobb. His .468 on-base percentage was the best in the league. The next season, Jackson batted .395. He led the American League in hits, triples, and total bases. On April 20, 1912, Jackson scored the first run in Tiger Stadium. The next year, he led the league with 197 hits and a .551 slugging percentage.
In August 1915, Jackson was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Two years later, Jackson and the White Sox won the American League championship. They also won the World Series. During the series, Jackson hit .307 as the White Sox beat the New York Giants.
Jackson missed most of the 1918 season. He was working in a shipyard to help with World War I. In 1919, he came back strong. He had a .351 average during the regular season. In the World Series, he hit .375 and played perfectly in the field. However, the White Sox, who were expected to win, lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds. The next season, Jackson batted .382. He was leading the American League in triples when he was suspended. This happened along with seven other White Sox players. It was because of claims that the team had cheated in the previous World Series.
Joe Jackson's Career Statistics
| G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | FP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,332 | 4,981 | 1,772 | 307 | 168 | 54 | 873 | 785 | 519 | 158 | .356 | .423 | .517 | .964 |
Joe Jackson's Life After Baseball
For the next 20 years, Jackson played for and managed many semi-professional teams. Most of these teams were in Georgia and South Carolina. In 1922, Jackson moved to Savannah, Georgia. He and his wife opened a dry cleaning business there.
In 1933, the Jacksons moved back to Greenville, South Carolina. First, they opened a barbecue restaurant. Later, Jackson and his wife opened "Joe Jackson's Liquor Store." They ran this store until he passed away. One famous story from Jackson's later life happened at his liquor store. Ty Cobb and sportswriter Grantland Rice came into the store. Jackson didn't seem to recognize Cobb. After buying something, Cobb finally asked Jackson, "Don't you know me, Joe?" Jackson replied, "Sure, I know you, Ty, but I wasn't sure you wanted to know me. A lot of them don't."
As he got older, Jackson had heart problems. In 1951, at age 64, Jackson died from a heart attack. He was the first of the eight banned players to pass away. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville. He did not have his own children. However, he and his wife raised two of his nephews.
Joe Jackson's Legacy and Honors
Even though Jackson was banned from Major League Baseball, people have built statues and parks to honor him. One special place is the Shoeless Joe Jackson Memorial Park in Greenville. A life-size statue of Jackson, made by South Carolina sculptor Doug Young, also stands in Greenville's West End.
In 2006, Jackson's original home was moved next to Fluor Field in downtown Greenville. The house was fixed up and opened in 2008 as the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum. Its address is 356 Field Street, which honors his lifetime batting average of .356. The TV show The Real Deal on TLC showed the story of moving and restoring the house.
Jackson was added to the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2002.
Jackson's great-great-grand nephew, Joseph Ray Jackson, was the first relative to play professional baseball since Joe's ban. Joseph Ray Jackson was a catcher. He batted .386 for The Citadel in 2013. Then, the Texas Rangers drafted him. Later that year, he played his first professional game with the Northwest League's Spokane Indians.
Films About Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson has been shown in a few movies. Eight Men Out, directed by John Sayles, is based on the book by Eliot Asinof. It tells the story of the Black Sox Scandal. D. B. Sweeney plays Jackson in this film.
The movie Field of Dreams, directed by Phil Alden Robinson, is based on the book Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella. Ray Liotta plays Jackson in this movie. Kevin Costner plays an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice. The voice tells him to build a baseball field on his farm. This way, Shoeless Joe and other players can play baseball again.
Images for kids
-
Jackson with the Naps in 1913
-
Jackson (middle row, second from left) with the 1907 Victor Mills team
-
Jackson with the Pelicans
-
Ty Cobb and Joe Jackson in Cleveland in 1913
-
Jackson and his wife Katie on their wedding day in 1908
See also
In Spanish: Shoeless Joe Jackson para niños
