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 Shoeless Joe Will he ever make it to Cooperstown?
Posted: Monday July 19, 1999 10:34 AM
By Jim Huber, CNN/SI
GREENVILLE, South Carolina -- He comes from that era of mythic proportion. "Shoeless Joe" Jackson was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, and set a lofty standard for every major leaguer to come after him. And yet what happened off the field continues to mire him in controversy eight decades later. "Jackson wasn't a bright guy," said author Eliot Asinof. "He came from illiterate people in South Carolina. He couldn't read or write, he had no education to speak of. He had come out of the mill towns, living a life of considerable deparavation and it was to his great athletic skill that he was able to free himself from it." Asinof, wrote the book "Eight Men Out" which was later adapted into a movie about the infamous Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and Jackson's involvement in the supposed fixing of the World Series that season. "He indeed involved himself," Asinof said. "He did indeed attend meetings. He did indeed take money, $5,000 for doing it. At the same time there is little indication that during the Series itself he did anything to throw the Series, so it's a mixed bag." In fact, Jackson lead all hitters in the Series with a .375 average and committed no errors. He had a record 12 hits, and had six of the White Sox 17 RBIs. "My suggestion is that he took the five grand and went out and double-crossed them, played as hard as he could," said long-time columnist Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And I don't know if that incriminates him too much." Bisher says he's the only man ever to interview Jackson about the scandal and, in fact, ghost-wrote an article under Jackson's byline for Sport Magazine in 1949. "His story was that this fella knocked on his door and offered him money to participate in sabotaging the White Sox in the World Series. And he threatened to throw the man out the window if he didn't get out the door and he said his wife was a witness and another couple was a witness to what happened." Jackson and seven other members of that team were acquitted in a court of law, but ommissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis still banned all eight from baseball forever. A ban which stands to this day. "It's interesting when you go to the Hall, his presence is all over the place," Ansinov said. "Here he is, this scandalized ballplayer, besmerched the great name of baseball, which offended all sensitive people in America. There he is all over the Hall of Fame. There's his glove, there are Shoeless Joe's shoes. But he's not a legit member of the system"
Even though Jackson was banished from the majors, he continued his love affair with the game, playing semi-pro ball under an assumed name, finally retiring to his Greenville, South Carolina home. It was there he lived out his life quietly as hero to all the neighborhood children though very few, if any, knew much about his abilities as a major-leaguer or of the scandal. One of those kids was John Burgess who remembers the times he shared with Jackson. "I used to deliver his paper, back in the late 40's, early 50's," he says. "And I used to play sandlot baseball with him. He'd come home from work, turn down our street, roll up his sleeves and start playing baseball with a bunch of 7-to-9-year-old kids." "He didn't have to help me," said Jon Anders, who was another of the neighborhood children. "He volunteed and took it upon himself to help me and the other kids. They can tell you how much he helped them. I've seen him many times just line kids up at the Bose Drug Store, just line em up and buy them ice cream cones." Still, every so often, the legend would rise. Perhaps this story is of questionable authenticity. But it underlines, still, what the baseball world knew was true. "Jackson was running a liquor store in his home town in South Carolina and Ty Cobb came in and bought a quart of bourbon," Asinov said. Anders remembers part of the conversation. "This particular day, he {Jackson} said, 'I want you to meet the greatest hitter that ever played the game of baseball. This is Ty Cobb.' And Cobb says, 'No, no, actually this is the greatest hitter that's ever played the game.'"
Asinof offers yet another version of what was said between the two great players. "Cobb was about to leave and turned around and said to him, "What's a matter Joe, you don't recognize me?' And Jackson said, 'I recognize you Ty. I just didn't think you wanted me to.' Shame. They lived in shame," Asinof said. And now the town and the world tries to erase some of that, 48 years after his passing. The Shoeless Joe Jackson American Legion tournament was held recently in Iowa, hoping to raise awareness in the days preceding yet another Shoeless induction at Cooperstown. Men like Bob Feller, Iowa senator Tom Harkin, and Ted Williams lead the charge. "I start seeing a few things in writing, old newspaper clippings, and all of a sudden I'm thinking, 'Jeez, I'd hate to think baseball had done something that bad,'" Williams said. "I don't know. Still out, but there should be a little more consideration. You know you get sentenced and you can appeal. You can get paroled. No consideration like that was ever given to him." Bisher says he would give the nod to Jackson. "If it came down to a vote now, would I vote for Shoeless Joe Jackson for the Baseball Hall of Fame? I would have to say I would."
"If he were still here, he might not want to take part in a whole lot but I think he'd be happy with the attention," said Lester Irwin, co-founder of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Society. "And I think it would make him feel better knowing there are people out there that believe in him." While the Baseball Hall of Fame inducts another class this weekend, commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday the ban on Jackson remains unchanged as far as Major League Baseball is concerned. Unless there is a change, Shoeless Joe will remain off the ballot, just as he has for the past 80 years after being kicked out of the game.
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