July 16, 1887-December 5, 1951

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Stats

• Batted: Left
• Threw: Right
• Batting average: .356
• Home runs: 54
• RBI's: 785
• Position in 1919: Left field

Biography

​Born in Pickens County, South Carolina, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson wasn't always shoeless.  In a game in Anderson, South Carolina, Jackson had severe blisters on his feet from his cleats.  They hurt so much that when he went to bat, he took off his shoes.  When he was running to third base, a fan noticed that he was only wearing his socks and he called to Jackson, "You shoeless son of a gun, you!"  "Shoeless Joe" has been his nickname ever since.



Jackson began in the minor leagues in 1908, playing for the Greenville Spinners.  This same year, he married his wife, Katie Wynn.  He eventually joined the Philidelphia Athletics and he played in his first major league game on August 25, 1908.  He stayed with the Athletics for the first two years of his career.  In 1910 he played for both the Cleveland Naps and the New Orleans Pelicans.  In Jackson's first full season in the major leagues, he had a record batting average of .408, second only to Ty Cobb.  In 1915, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox.  He helped the team win the 1917 World Series, then stopped playing for most of 1918 because of the Great War.  In 1919, Jackson came back to the White Sox.



Jackson claimed to have taken part in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal,  but all statistics lead one to believe that he had nothing to do with it.  He had a Series record 12 hits, a .375 batting average, no errors, and he threw a runner out at the plate.  Nonetheless, Jackson was banned from playing organized baseball and his last game was on September 27, 1920.

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