Happy Birthday to the late and great “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, one of the greatest all-around Outfielders in the game’s history. During his 13-year career, Jackson played for the Cleveland Naps, Chicago White Sox, and the Philadelphia Athletics.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1908-1920):

.356 BA, 1,772 HITS, 54 HR, 785 RBI, .423 OBP, 873 RUNS

• 1917 World Series Champion (White Sox)

Joe Jackson got the nickname “Shoeless” during a mill game in Greenville, South Carolina. Wearing a new pair of cleats, Jackson had blisters on his foot; getting tired of the pain, he took his shoes off and played the rest of the game in his socks. A heckling fan noticed him running to third in his socks and shouted, “You shoeless son of a gun, you!” for the rest of his career, he was stuck with the nickname. Growing up in the South, even at 6 or 7, he worked shifts as a “linthead” instead of attending school. Despite a lack of education and almost dying and being paralyzed for months from a Measles attack at ten years old, Jackson was given a gift to play baseball at a high level which would be his one-way ticket out of the poor life in the South. In 1908-09, Jackson played ten games for the Athletics, but the team didn’t see a long-term fit, so Connie Mack dealt him to the Cleveland Naps, where he’d become the great ballplayer we know him as. In 1911, he finally became an everyday Outfielder; he hit .408 that year losing out to Ty Cobb, who hit .419, winning the batting title and MVP.

Besides his final year in 1920, Jackson played in the dead-ball era. In that era, you didn’t have the luxury to swing for the fences; the great player like Jackson relied on making contact or drawing a walk, then having excellent base running skills to get to Jackson was everything you needed or wanted in a ballplayer during the dead-ball era. His excellent base running is what put Jackson among the greats; he was such a great base runner that he was able to turn a Single into a Double, a Double into a Triple, and sometimes a Triple into an Inside-the-park Home Run. Career-wise, he averaged 20 Triples a year, had his career gone on, he probably could’ve been the all-time leader in Triples. With a cannon arm and quick feet, Jackson played all over the Outfield and had the luxury of playing shallow or deep.

He won his only World Series in 1917 with the Chicago White Sox. Then in 1919, despite multiple players on the team intentionally throwing the World Series, the Reds won. Jackson was the best performer playing in that series between the two teams. He hit .375, drove in six runs, led all players with twelve Hits, and hit the only World Series home run. He did not throw that series; unfortunately, after the 1920 season, despite him and the other seven players being found not guilty, the new commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis,banned all those players for life. Joe Jackson, at the age of 32, was wrongfully banished from the game. Clearly, on numbers, Jackson is a Hall of Famer, but due to the banishment, he never got on the ballot. To this day, he remains on the Commissioner Ineligible List. His final season has to be the greatest final season by any hitter:

1920 Season:

.382 BA, 218 HITS, 12 HR, 121 RBI, .444 OBP, 105 RUNS, 42 2B, 20 3B (146 Games)

Despite being banished from the game, Jackson would go on to play under disguised names for semi-pro teams in Georgia-South Carolina areas. Despite being banished in 1951, the Cleveland Indians inducted him into their Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth famously modeled his swing off of Jackson. When you factor in Jackson kissing most of 1918 due to WWI and another five prime years he didn’t have, man talk about what could’ve been. In 1999, Jackson was ranked 35 on The Sporting News 100 greatest all-time baseball players list.

References:

1. Shoeless Joe Jackson via Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeless_Joe_Jackson

2. Shoeless Joe Jackson Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jacksjo01.shtml