1887–1951
Latest News: MLB Reinstates Shoeless Joe Jackson
More than 70 years after his death, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is finally eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was banned from playing professionally 13 years into his career for his role in the infamous 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
On May 13, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced he’s removing Jackson from the sport’s permanently ineligible list. Manfred determined the league’s punishment of banned players should end after their deaths, meaning the all-time hit leader Pete Rose and several other players are also reinstated.
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve,” Manfred wrote in a letter to representatives of Rose’s family who petitioned he be reinstated.
With the reversal, Jackson—considered one of baseball’s earliest superstars prior to his ban in 1921—will be considered for Hall of Fame election through the Classic Baseball Era Committee. The group next meets in December 2027 to consider candidates for the 2028 induction class.
Who Was Shoeless Joe Jackson?
Joe Jackson, known as Shoeless Joe, was one of baseball’s earliest superstars. He earned his nickname before turning pro by once playing in stockings when his baseball shoes weren’t broken in. He played in the MLB from 1908 through 1920 and had his best seasons with Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox. His .356 career batting average remains one of the highest ever, but Jackson was banished from the sport for his alleged involvement in fixing the outcome of the 1919 World Series. He died in December 1951 at age 64. In May 2025, the MLB posthumously reinstated Jackson, making him eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Joseph Jefferson Jackson
BORN: July 16, 1887
DIED: December 5, 1951
BIRTHPLACE: Brandon Mills, South Carolina
SPOUSE: Katie Wynn Jackson (1908–1951)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer
Early Life
Joseph Jefferson Jackson was born on July 16, 1887, in Brandon Mills, South Carolina. According to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library, he was the oldest of eight children born to George and Martha Jackson. The couple had six sons and two daughters.
The family never had any money. At the age of 6, Joe, who never went to school and was illiterate his entire life, worked at a cotton mill. The company’s baseball team eventually changed the trajectory of Joe’s life.
By his early teen years, the gangly boy was already a superb baseball player, dominating older athletes while competing for the mill team. It was during this time that Joe earned the nickname that would stick for life. He hit a base-clearing triple after forgoing a pair of baseball spikes that had started to irritate his feet. From then on, most everyone called him “Shoeless Joe.”
Baseball Career
In 1908, the Philadelphia A’s purchased Shoeless Joe Jackson’s contract for $325 from the Greenville Spinners, a semi-pro team. While a country boy at heart, Jackson quickly grew accustomed to his new city life and playing in the big leagues. He was traded to the Cleveland franchise prior to the 1910 season.
In 1911, his first season as a full-time player, Jackson and his trusty bat, Black Betsy, slugged a career-high .408 average, banging out 19 triples and 45 doubles. The next season it was much the same. Jackson’s abilities were such that he drew praise from the mercurial Ty Cobb and even Babe Ruth, who gushed: “I copied Jackson’s style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He’s the guy who made me a hitter.”
A little more than halfway through the 1915 season, Jackson was on the move again, this time courtesy of a trade from Cleveland to Chicago, where the outfielder suited up for the White Sox. In 1917, Jackson helped lead the club to a World Series title.
Black Sox Scandal and Ban
During the 1919 season, it looked as though Jackson and the White Sox would again finish the season as champs. The club steamrolled through the competition, with Jackson hitting .351 and knocking in 96 runners.
But for all the team’s success, the club’s owner, Charles Comiskey, preferred to underpay his players and not deliver promised bonuses. Disgruntled and angry, eight members of the team, including Jackson, were accused of accepting payments for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Jackson later denied he knew about the fix and said his name had been given to the conspirators without his consent to participate in the scam.
For Jackson’s part, the hard-hitting ballplayer was promised $20,000, a significant bump in pay from his $6,000 salary. Still, Jackson’s stellar performance in the series didn’t quite add-up. Over the course of the eight-game series, which Cincinnati won five games to three, Shoeless batted .375, including an impressive .545 in the contests the White Sox won. The batting stats were the highest of any player on both teams.
But not everything went as planned as far as the money promised. Jackson only received $5,000 for the fix and said later that he tried to return the money. He signed a confession stating he had accepted the money but later claimed that he didn’t understand the confession and that the team’s attorney had taken advantage of his illiteracy.
Nonetheless, when the fix was discovered, all eight players were brought to trial. Jackson and his teammates were all acquitted but, in 1920, baseball’s newly appointed commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned the group from the sport for life. Jackson’s stellar MLB career was over after 13 seasons.
Stats
While the Black Sox Scandal tarnished his legacy and cut his career short, Jackson is still considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. His .356 career batting average ranks fifth all-time behind only Josh Gibson, Ty Cobb, Oscar Charleston, and Rogers Hornsby.
Here is a rundown of his career stats in key categories:
- At-bats: 4,981
- Batting average: .356
- Hits: 1,772
- Runs scored: 872
- Home runs: 54
- RBIs: 792
- Stolen bases: 202
Later Years, Death, and Reinstatement
After his playing career ended, Jackson and his wife, Katie Wynn Jackson, retired to Greenville, South Carolina, to help care for his ailing mother. Shoeless and Katie had married in 1908. “The popular center fielder of the local team made the greatest home run of his career on Sunday. The home run was made on Cupid’s diamond and the victory was a fair young lady,” a news report read. The couple never had children.
In Greenville, Shoeless operated a number of businesses, including a pool parlor and a liquor store. Still, he never gave his quest to be reinstated into his former sport, hoping that he could one day be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He didn’t live to see it happen.
Jackson died of a heart attack on December 5, 1951, at his home in Greenville. He was 64 and survived by his wife.
More than seven decades after his death, Jackson’s dream to be enshrined in Cooperstown received renewed potential. In May 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced he was reinstating Jackson and other deceased players from the permanently ineligible list after determining the players’ punishments should conclude upon their deaths. Jackson is now eligible for the Hall of Fame through the Classic Baseball Era Committee, which next meets in 2027 to consider candidates for the 2028 induction class.
Movies
Jackson is depicted in the movies Eight Men Out (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989) with D.B. Sweeney and Ray Liotta, respectively, portraying the player.
Quotes
- I ain’t afraid to tell the world that it don’t take school stuff to help a fella play ball.
- God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times, and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise.
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