Shoeless Joe Jackson

• Philadelphia Athletics (1908-1909)
• Cleveland Naps / Indians (1910-1915)
• Chicago White Sox (1915-1920)

• World Series Champion ( 1917)

Joseph Jefferson Jackson ( July 16, 1887 *, † December 5, 1951 ) was an American baseball player of the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Naps and Chicago White Sox in Major League Baseball. His nickname was Shoeless Joe. He won in 1917 with the White Sox the World Series and was next to Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth as one of the greatest players of his generation. However, after the Black Sox scandal of 1919, he was banished for life from the MLB and is on the black list of players who may not be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Career

Jackson spent a childhood of poverty and deprivation, where he worked from an early age in a clothing factory. He never learned to read and write, and remained throughout his life an illiterate. Already as a teenager fell to his textbook -like stroke technique, with which he could beat almost effortlessly homers. He was Shoeless Joe called because it once during a game took off his shoes and uncomfortable to continue playing.

In Philadelphia and Cleveland, he established himself as a valuable hitter, who constantly hit a batting average of .350, and more. During these years, a friendly feud with Ty Cobb (Detroit Tigers ) developed for the title of " best blow man in the world ". In 1917, he won as a member of the Chicago White Sox the World Series. But his career ended abruptly, because in 1919 he was involved in the Black Sox scandal. Despite unclear evidence ( his confession came under the influence of alcohol, and he wrote, though he illiterate could not read the text ), he was a lifetime locked. At trial, the legend was born, that a little boy Jackson pleaded: " Say It Is not So, Joe" (German: "Say, that's not true! "). It became a household word ( for example, it took Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate against Joe Biden in 2008 ), although this is probably a legend.

Although he continued to play baseball as a hobby, he kept his distance from the MLB. Once, when Ty Cobb passed, Cobb noted incredulously that he did not greet Jackson. When he asked if he did not recognize him, said Jackson:

"Of course I recognize you. I wanted to make sure that you wanted to greet me. Many people do not do the fact. "

Because Jackson was illiterate, he was very rare autographs. Contracts he had either a manager or a sign, and they were not available, he signed it with an almost illegible scrawl. This extremely rare autographs are in great demand today.

Qualities

Jackson was considered a player with textbook -like stroke technique. His batting average of .356 is the third highest in the MLB history, and its peak season in 1911 with .408 is the sixth- best season average this league. His rival and friend Ty Cobb once said:

" As soon as I think my stroke technique is good, I look at Jackson. Then I know that I have to work hard on myself every day. "

Private life

Jackson married in 1908 his wife Katie Wynn. After the banishment of the MLB Jackson opened with his wife, a liquor store and a dry cleaner, with whom he came good to make ends meet financially. He died in 1951 of a heart attack.