I was reading a post about the baseball induction or lack there of. This blogged mentioned names that should be there like Craig Biggio and other recently retired players. There is one man that should be considered but probably won't due to an incident that occurred almost a 95 years ago. His name is Joe Jackson or "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. He played in the teens of the 20th century. Considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He could throw, hit, and field on a baseball field that hadn't been seen before.
Jackson was born in Pickens County, South Carolina, USA on July 16, 1887. His father was sharecropper who moved around a bit before settling in Greenville. With a poor family and him being the oldest of eight children, he went to work at 6 years old in the textile mills as a mill hand. He worked 12 hour shifts and didn't go to school throughout his formative years. It was rumored that he was illiterate but definitely uneducated. But in his own words, "It don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball." He learned to play baseball in the mill leagues starting at age 13. He got so good at it that eventually, the owner, Connie Mack from the Philadelphia (now Oakland) A's signed him to a contract. But he got so homesick from playing in Philadelphia that Mack traded him to the Cleveland Indians.
It was in Cleveland that his play got much better due to the fact the city of Cleveland was smaller and had lot of players who were from the southern part of the United States like he was. In his first year there, he hit over .400 and drove in 83 runs. His homerun total was only 7 but keep in mind that was the dead ball where the leading homerun hitter hit only about 9 or 10 a year. This was due to the fact that was ball was handmade so the circumference of the ball was different in each ball, the homerun distances were further as well as the height of the fences, and only 1 to 4 balls were used in the whole game. So, if a ball was hit foul or for a homerun, fans couldn't keep the ball and had to return it back to the field. Likewise, pitchers and fielders messed the ball so much (saliva and dirt) that it became hard to hit after a few innings. The owners of baseball teams thought they were saving money by doing this. Finally, batters used a split-grip technique to hit a baseball which only afforded them to hit line drives of short distances.
But Joe was different. He put two hands at the bottom of the bat barrel and took a big swing. He called his black bats "Black Betsy" and his regular wood bats "Blonde Betsy." Big swingers tend to have bad technique or holes in their swing but opposing pitchers said they couldn't find a flaw in his swing. His swing was considered perfect that Babe Ruth copied his swing and became a hitter because of it (he started his career as a pitcher). He claimed that looking at a candle would sharpen his eyes by closing one or the other eye. He got this technique from the mills that he grew up in which were lit by candle light.
Now, lets get to the scandal of the 1919 World Series. Joe by this time was playing for the Chicago White Sox. He played for cheap owner, Charles Comiskey, who forced them to clean and pay for their own uniforms. Likewise, he promised his teammate, Eddie Cicotte, if he won 30 games, he would get a bonus. Unfortunately when he won 29 games, he was taken out of the pitching rotation with five games left in the season by orders of Comiskey to his manager, Kid Gleason. That was the backdrop for the eight White Sox players to throw the World Series including "Shoeless" Joe by gamblers funded by gangster, Arnold Rothstein.
Problem was by many accounts, he didn't want to be part of the fix even though his teammate Lefty Williams threw 5,000 dollars under his bed. Though the Chicago courts found him and his teammates not guilty, new commissioner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned the eight guys for life when he got access to the affidavits that they were approached by gamblers and supposedly didn't it report it immediately to the owners. Due to baseball not being under U.S. anti-trust laws now and then, he had that power to do so. Jackson tried to or did report game fixing to the owner, Comiskey. Likewise, he even wanted to sit out the series when he found out that the fix was on. Eventually, the White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 (9 game series). But Comiskey or his secretary told him to keep the money and sign some affidavits though he was illiterate and could barely sign his own name due to his wife's help.
Each year, his name comes up whether to lift the ban so he could be eligible for the Hall of Fame voting. He has had many admirers who have advocated his cause. As for the money, rumor had it that he kept the money and donated to his local hospital. After being banned, he played in semi-pro leagues then ran a liquor and restaurant business till his death in 1951. But one thing mystifies me, you see all the debates about whether he did or not from writers. You hear stories from his friends or relatives who knew him after his baseball career. From all accounts, a great man.
But what about his wife? Nothing. I mean, Joe was dependent on her for everything including his liquor business when it came to the written word. What did she know about her husband? After being banned, Joe successfully sued Comiskey in receiving back pay from the 1920 and 1921 season by the Chicago courts. An illiterate Joe did this when he supposedly confessed to his lawyer given to him by Comiskey that he threw the World Series due to his illiteracy? My question: I like to know what she knew or did for that matter? I know this: wherever Joe was, she couldn't be too far behind
Jackson was born in Pickens County, South Carolina, USA on July 16, 1887. His father was sharecropper who moved around a bit before settling in Greenville. With a poor family and him being the oldest of eight children, he went to work at 6 years old in the textile mills as a mill hand. He worked 12 hour shifts and didn't go to school throughout his formative years. It was rumored that he was illiterate but definitely uneducated. But in his own words, "It don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball." He learned to play baseball in the mill leagues starting at age 13. He got so good at it that eventually, the owner, Connie Mack from the Philadelphia (now Oakland) A's signed him to a contract. But he got so homesick from playing in Philadelphia that Mack traded him to the Cleveland Indians.
It was in Cleveland that his play got much better due to the fact the city of Cleveland was smaller and had lot of players who were from the southern part of the United States like he was. In his first year there, he hit over .400 and drove in 83 runs. His homerun total was only 7 but keep in mind that was the dead ball where the leading homerun hitter hit only about 9 or 10 a year. This was due to the fact that was ball was handmade so the circumference of the ball was different in each ball, the homerun distances were further as well as the height of the fences, and only 1 to 4 balls were used in the whole game. So, if a ball was hit foul or for a homerun, fans couldn't keep the ball and had to return it back to the field. Likewise, pitchers and fielders messed the ball so much (saliva and dirt) that it became hard to hit after a few innings. The owners of baseball teams thought they were saving money by doing this. Finally, batters used a split-grip technique to hit a baseball which only afforded them to hit line drives of short distances.
But Joe was different. He put two hands at the bottom of the bat barrel and took a big swing. He called his black bats "Black Betsy" and his regular wood bats "Blonde Betsy." Big swingers tend to have bad technique or holes in their swing but opposing pitchers said they couldn't find a flaw in his swing. His swing was considered perfect that Babe Ruth copied his swing and became a hitter because of it (he started his career as a pitcher). He claimed that looking at a candle would sharpen his eyes by closing one or the other eye. He got this technique from the mills that he grew up in which were lit by candle light.
Now, lets get to the scandal of the 1919 World Series. Joe by this time was playing for the Chicago White Sox. He played for cheap owner, Charles Comiskey, who forced them to clean and pay for their own uniforms. Likewise, he promised his teammate, Eddie Cicotte, if he won 30 games, he would get a bonus. Unfortunately when he won 29 games, he was taken out of the pitching rotation with five games left in the season by orders of Comiskey to his manager, Kid Gleason. That was the backdrop for the eight White Sox players to throw the World Series including "Shoeless" Joe by gamblers funded by gangster, Arnold Rothstein.
Problem was by many accounts, he didn't want to be part of the fix even though his teammate Lefty Williams threw 5,000 dollars under his bed. Though the Chicago courts found him and his teammates not guilty, new commissioner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned the eight guys for life when he got access to the affidavits that they were approached by gamblers and supposedly didn't it report it immediately to the owners. Due to baseball not being under U.S. anti-trust laws now and then, he had that power to do so. Jackson tried to or did report game fixing to the owner, Comiskey. Likewise, he even wanted to sit out the series when he found out that the fix was on. Eventually, the White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 (9 game series). But Comiskey or his secretary told him to keep the money and sign some affidavits though he was illiterate and could barely sign his own name due to his wife's help.
Each year, his name comes up whether to lift the ban so he could be eligible for the Hall of Fame voting. He has had many admirers who have advocated his cause. As for the money, rumor had it that he kept the money and donated to his local hospital. After being banned, he played in semi-pro leagues then ran a liquor and restaurant business till his death in 1951. But one thing mystifies me, you see all the debates about whether he did or not from writers. You hear stories from his friends or relatives who knew him after his baseball career. From all accounts, a great man.
But what about his wife? Nothing. I mean, Joe was dependent on her for everything including his liquor business when it came to the written word. What did she know about her husband? After being banned, Joe successfully sued Comiskey in receiving back pay from the 1920 and 1921 season by the Chicago courts. An illiterate Joe did this when he supposedly confessed to his lawyer given to him by Comiskey that he threw the World Series due to his illiteracy? My question: I like to know what she knew or did for that matter? I know this: wherever Joe was, she couldn't be too far behind
