Shoeless but Standing Tall:

Masculinity and Redemption in Americus, Georgia

Noah Roberts

Shoeless Joe Jackson from his playing days with the Cleveland Naps.

Shoeless Joe Jackson was a famous baseball player during the early 20th century but his major league career was cut short when he was banned for life for having his name involved in the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” cheating scandal. After his big-league career ended, he began to play for several teams in the southern United States and eventually found himself on a regional baseball team in Americus. Once seen as a national hero from humble beginnings and an outstanding baseball player, his alleged involvement in throwing the 1919 World Series damaged his character and his perceived masculine virtue.

Jackson's story reflected the rising interest in professional baseball as a forum for healthy physical masculine abilities on display to new commercial spectators. This essay will explore how, even though Jackson was involved in a scandal that put his status as a moral man in jeopardy, he still had people in small towns like Americus who supported him as symbol of masculine fitness and leadership.

Initially, a large portion of the American public turned against ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson after the 1919 incident so he became seen as a damaged celebrity who did not uphold the moral values of what a man should be. However, Jackson found support in Americus, Georgia, with regional papers providing a more complicated story about masculinity, forgiveness, and fame. Many locals saw Jackson not as a fallen hero, but rather as a man who came from humble beginnings to reach the pinnacle of baseball. An Americus Times-Recorder article titled “Was Blake’s Attack on Joe Jackson Justified?” defended Jackson from the criticism that he had been receiving from the larger city newspaper in Atlanta. The article written by R.C. Moran describes the criticism towards Jackson as “an uncalled-for and reckless attack upon a man who just now is the greatest drawing card in the baseball circuit of which Americus forms a unit.” This view of Jackson as a valuable athlete and upright man despite his scandalous reputation shows that, in Americus, masculine worth was not measured solely by public disgrace, but also by perseverance, humility, and regional loyalty. Qualities like honor, humility, and a strong work ethic were all tied to the traditional values of manhood during the early 20th century.

Even though the national media slandered Jackson’s moral character, the locals in Americus once again came to his defense. This defense reflected pride in a regional home-coming for the Georgia-born Jackson who arrived in Americus in 1923 to coach local players. In the same article by R.C. Moran, he explains that “few men stand higher in business and social circles here than Tom Bell, Nathan Murray, Rufus Lane, Duke Crockett and the others who have elected to make Jackson manager of the Americus team.” This quote shows that the local men who were seen as the most masculine and moral aligned themselves with Jackson and made the decision to choose him as the manager of the baseball team despite the national view of his perceived lack of morality.

Another Americus Times-Recorder article tells the story of how Jackson tried to prove that he was an innocent man by reaching out to a judge to explain his story, but he was quickly shut down. The newspaper headline titled “Joe Jackson Tells How Judge Refused to Hear His Plaint That He Was An ‘Honest Man’,” shows how the once-revered masculinity of Jackson was shattered. For example, Jackson stated how he called the judge who handled his case to explain his role in the scandal, only to be dismissed. “I heard I had been Indicted. I called up Judge McDonald who directed the grand jury inquiry, and told him I was an honest man. He said, ‘I know you’re not’ and then hung up the receiver.” This refusal to even consider Jackson’s defense was an attack not just on his actions, but on his character, his manhood, and his right to be heard.

Since Joe Jackson was illiterate and came from humble beginnings, small-town Southerners related to his life and wanted to see him flourish. Scholar John D. DiMeglio describes how baseball fans in the North made fun of Jackson, often yelling “from the grandstands, asking him to spell cat. It reinforced a powerful stereotype America had of its Southern citizens.” This shows how the rest of America saw southern men as uneducated. After the Black Sox scandal, fellow Southerners stood with Jackson because they knew what it was like to be looked down upon for not being able to read or write. Jackson left Americus by 1924 to coach and play in other regional leagues but the local press continued to cover his career with pride.

After Shoeless Joe completely retired from baseball, he remained out of the public eye and lived a quiet life with his wife Katie. Yet in many ways, he never recovered from the damage to his reputation and character. Fellow baseball superstar Ty Cobb claimed that he once saw Jackson in Greenville, South Carolina, and that he “stopped at Jackson’s liquor store to buy a quart of bourbon, but Jackson failed to greet him. Cobb asked him, “What’s the matter, Joe? Don’t you remember me?” Jackson replied, “Sure, I do, Ty; I just didn’t think you wanted me to.” Jackson's reluctance to greet Ty Cobb shows how his own sense of honorable manhood had been tainted because he thought that a player he had played against for many years would not want to talk to him because of the Black Sox scandal. Ty Cobb was a known alcoholic and violent man but nevertheless, Jackson believed that he was not good enough to greet him.

In conclusion, Shoeless Joe Jackson’s story shows the complexities of manhood, celebrity status, and injustice. Even though he was labelled as a disgrace to the game of baseball because of his alleged role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Jackson found support in Sumter County, and more specifically, Americus. The loyalty that he received from the locals in Americus, who shared similar stories, proves that manhood is not solely reliant on public perception but rather resilience and someone's ability to endure hardships. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s experience reflects a broader tension between national ideals and local values; it proves that masculinity is not just based on a man's fame or success but rather on how they handle themselves on a day-to-day basis.

Americus Times-Recorder, 01 September 1923, p. 3

Selected Bibliography

Primary Sources

"Batting Records of South Georgia Circuit Men," Americus Times-Recorder, 01 September 1923, p. 3

“Joe Jackson Tells How Judge Refused to Hear His Plaint That He Was An ‘Honest Man’.” Americus Times-Recorder, 29 September 1920, p.1.

Moran, R. C. “Was Blake’s Attack on Joe Jackson Justified?” Americus Times-Recorder, 24 July 1923, p. 8.

Secondary Sources

Asinof, Eliot. "Shoeless Joe Jackson." Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 February 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shoeless-Joe-Jackson

DiMeglio, John D. “Baseball,” in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Volume 16: Sports and Recreation. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Shoeless Joe Jackson and team in Americus, 1923

Noah Roberts is a senior History major with a Sociology minor. When not in the History classroom, Noah can be found on the baseball field as a catcher for GSW's men's baseball team. Noah plans to build a coaching career after he graduates from GSW in Summer 2025.