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Shoeless
Joe and Ragtime Baseball
Shoeless
Joe Jackson Belongs in the Hall of Fame!
When Will “Shoeless Joe”
Jackson Receive
Justice?
By
Dr. Harvey Frommer
The midsummer spectacle of Hall of Fame inductions is now past. There
was lots of hype, lots of hoopla, lots of celebrating
of one of the greatest induction classes in Cooperstown history. And that
was what it should have been like.
Mention of
“Shoeless Joe” was minimal. Pete Rose even got more
of the spotlight in conversations. They are two of those 15 who received
lifetime bans issued by the commissioners of baseball through the years.
No person ever permanently banned
has ever been reinstated.
Most
sports fans know a lot about Pete Rose: however, their knowledge about Jackson
is sketchy, sometimes inaccurate. So for the record - the
facts.
Joseph Jefferson Wofford Jackson was born to a poor family on July
16, 1889 in Greenville, South Carolina. School was never a part of his life
for at the age of six he was already working in the cotton mills as a cleanup
boy.
By
the time he was 13 he was laboring a dozen hours a day along with his father
and brother. His sole escape from the back-breaking work, the din and dust
of the mill, took place out in the grassy fields playing baseball. He was
a natural right from the start, good enough to be noticed and recruited to
play for the mill team organized by the company.
One
hot summer day Jackson played the outfield wearing a new pair of shoes. They
pinched his feet, so he took them off and played in his stocking feet. A
sportswriter who saw what he did dubbed him "Shoeless Joe." The name stuck
even though that was the only time Jackson is reported to have played
'shoeless.'
He despised the
name for he felt it reinforced his country-bumpkin origins, the fact that
he could not read nor write.
Perhaps that was why when he played for the Chicago White Sox after
stints with the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians, he wore alligator
and patent leather shoes - the more expensive the better. It was if he was
announcing to the world: "I am not a Shoeless Joe. I do wear shoes. And they
cost a lot of money!"
He was the greatest
ball player ever from South Carolina, one of the top players of all time.
His lifetime batting average was .356, topped only by Ty Cobb and Rogers
Hornsby.
Four times he batted over .370. Babe Ruth copied his swing claiming
Jackson was the greatest hitter he ever saw. Ruth, Cobb, and Casey Stengel
all placed him on their all-time, all star team. He was such a remarkable
fielder that his glove was called "the place where triples go to
die."
In the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown one can find
Jackson's shoes. His life size photograph is there. But he is not there even
though others with far less credentials and far more soiled reputations are.
Shoeless Joe had to leave the game in disgrace, one of the members of the
"Black Sox" accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
He was asked under oath at trial:
"Did you do anything to throw those games?"
"No sir," was his response.
"Any game in the series?"
"Not a one," Jackson answered. "I didn't have an error or make no
misplay."
In fact, Shoeless Joe was under-stating his accomplishments which included
the only series home run, the highest batting average, the collecting of
a record dozen hits, while committing no errors.
It took the jury a single ballot to acquit all eight accused players
of the charges against them. But the very next day baseball's first commissioner
- Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis - issued a verdict
of his own. He banned all eight players from baseball for life.
Landis was brought into organized baseball in the fall of 1920 with
a lifetime contract and a mandate to clean up the game using whatever methods
he saw fit. He had the reputation of being a vindictive judge, a hanging
judge - and he was all of that.
Every baseball commissioner since Landis has refused to act on "Shoeless
Joe's behalf."
Commissioner Faye Vincent said: "I can't
uncipher or decipher what took place back then.
I have no intention of taking formal action."
Commissioner Bart Giammatti said: "I do
not wish to play God with history. The Jackson case is best left to historical
debate and analysis. I am not for re-instatement."
Commissioner Bud Selig has not touched the topic.
Public pressure keeps increasing year by year. But the ban still remains.
It is a story that won't go away, like a riddle inside a jigsaw puzzle inside
an enigma. It is a story about a great baseball injustice - - - a talented
player caught at a crossroad in American history who became a victim, a scapegoat
so that the sport of baseball could offer up a cleaner image.
(From the
Vault)
(To
read more check out my Shoeless Joe
and Ragtime Baseball, to be published in a new edition spring 2015 as
a Harvey Frommer Baseball Classic)
About the Author
Dr. Harvey Frommer received his Ph.D. from New York University. Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Professor nominee, Recipient of the "Salute to Scholars Award" at CUNY where he taught writing for many years, the prolific author was cited by the Congressional Record and the New York State Legislature as a sports historian and journalist.
His sports books include autobiographies of sports legends Nolan Ryan, Red Holzman and Tony Dorsett, the classics "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "New York City Baseball: 1947-1957 (original issue)." The 1927 Yankees." His "Remembering Yankee Stadium" was published to acclaim in 2008. His latest book, a Boston Globe Best Seller, is "Remembering Fenway Park." Autographed and discounted copies of all Harvey Frommer books are available direct from the author. Please consult his home page: http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
Press: Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball
