Joe Jackson doesn't have a legacy. The life of Shoeless Joe Jackson actually has two legacies. The very first is that of a great baseball player, indisputably one of the best hitters to ever play the game. Babe Ruth made no bones about this, admitting he copied Joe's swing because Jackson was the best hitter he'd seen. The second Jackson legacy is less concrete, however, also it revolves around controversy and also the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal that led to Joe's permanent banishment from mlb. Mix in several facts, a little bit of trivia, and two missing shoes, and you've got one heckuva legacy. Or two.
FACT: Well, maybe not. Two online websites which I'm not permitted to list here show Joe's birthday as July 16, 1888. Two more websites which I also cannot list tell us that Jackson's birthday is July 16, 1887. There's even a fifth website which reports Joe's birthday as July 16, 1899, making Jackson about nine years old when he broke into the major leagues. It isn't surprising, then, that controversy still surrounds this person, 124 or 125 years after his birth.
TRIVIA: Jackson were built with a favorite bat he called 'Black Betsy'. The length of the bat was 36 inches and it weighed 3 pounds (48 ounces). The bat was fashioned from the hickory tree (the northern side, to be exact) by local fan Charlie Ferguson when Joe played for any minor league mill team in Greenville, Sc. Joe used the bat his entire career and still owned it when he died in 1951. Eventually, Black Betsy sold on eBay in 2001 for $577, 610. This is a nothing more than $12,033 an oz, or $16,045 per inch.
FACTS: Shoeless Joe batted over .300 in every of his 11 full major league seasons. His .356 lifetime batting average is third-highest in main league baseball history. In 1911 he hit an astounding .408 in what was essentially his rookie season, setting a rookie record that still stands a lot more than A century later. Ironically, Ty Cobb hit .420 that season, denying Joe the league batting title. Despite his .356 lifetime average, Jackson never won a league batting crown. On April 20, 1912, Joe scored the initial run in Tiger Stadium history. Jackson won his only World Series championship with the White Sox in 1917.
TRIVIA: By the chronilogical age of six, Jackson was already your South Carolina textile mill as a clean-up boy. Twelve-hour days were not uncommon as a young teenager, and Joe received little when it comes to formal education. Sadly, he never learned to see or write magista obra pas cher, as well as in later years would wait for teammates to order from the menu and then order for himself by repeating something he'd heard.
FACT: After the favored White Sox lost the 1919 World Series towards the Cincinnati Reds, rumors began to swirl that Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other Chicago teammates had conspired to simply accept bribes from organized crime elements in exchange for intentionally losing the Series. The allegations were brought before a great jury in September, 1920, after which the eight Chicago ballplayers were suspended. Early in the year of 1921, the grand jury acquitted all involved of any wrongdoing within the infamous 'Black Sox' scandal, but that mattered to not newly-appointed baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Wanting to set a good example and make the reality that gambling and organized crime wouldn't be tolerated in major league baseball, Landis banned Shoeless Joe and also the other seven players for a lifetime. Despite hitting .375 for that series, committing no errors, and belting the Series' only homer, Shoeless Joe never played another major league baseball game.
MISSING SHOES: Following a new set of spikes caused severe blistering on Joe's feet during a minor league game, Joe literally next day in his socks. The nickname 'Shoeless Joe' was created also it stuck with Jackson throughout his life.
TRIVIA: In 2006, the house by which Joe Jackson lived and died was separated and moved ten or twenty yards to Field Street in Greenville, Sc. Two years later, the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum was opened in that same house. Even the house number was changed to 356 to reflect Joe's lifetime batting average. There is no charge to visit the museum, and even the parking is free.
TRIVIA: Joe had a near life-long love affair with Black Betsy, but he did, on occasion, use lighter bats from Hillerich and Bradsby, makers crampon hypervenom of the famous Louisville Slugger. Proclaiming that "bats can't stand freezing no more than me," Jackson would bring them the place to find Sc throughout the winter months. There he would wrap the bats in clean cotton after rubbing them thoroughly with sweet oil.
FACT: On December 5, 1951, cardiac arrest ended the life span of Shoeless Joe Jackson making them the first of the Black Sox to die. He is buried, together with his wife Kate, in Greenville's Woodlawn Memorial Park.
GHOSTLY TRIVIA: The release from the blockbuster movie Field of Dreams in 1989 allowed another generation of baseball fans to acknowledge and appreciate Shoeless Joe Jackson. The film's popular chaussure de foot mercurial culture following and enduring appeal guarantees the rightful Joe Jackson legacy the adoration and permanent recognition it so richly deserves.