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“Shoeless Joe” Jackson Photo Gallery
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“Shoeless Joe Jackson’s Incredible Three-Year Span, 1911-13!”
Yesterday, December 5, was the 65th anniversary of Joe Jackson’s passing at age 64. Let’s use the occasion to reflect on the career of one of the greatest players ever. Here’s some excerpts from an article I wrote last year, calling attention to his fabulous rookie year of 1911.
Shoeless Joe Jackson is usually remembered for his great years with the White Sox from 1915 to 1920 and for his remarkable .356 career batting average, which is still the third-highest all-time. And, of course, his role in the Black Sox scandal is still hotly debated 96 years later. Plus it’s well known that Babe Ruth modeled his hitting technique after Jackson’s.
But few realize that Joe Jackson had some truly remarkable years earlier in his career with the Cleveland Naps. His rookie year of 1911 is “off the charts” for a rookie; and his three-season totals from 1911-1913 is arguably one of the best three-year spans in baseball history. Let’s take a look at just what Jackson accomplished:
Joe Jackson’s stats from 1911 would be amazing even if he wasn’t a rookie. He compiled 233 hits, with 126 runs, 45 doubles, 19 triples, 83 RBIs, and 41 stolen bases. His phenomenal .408 batting average set a record for rookies that still stands and we can safely say will never be broken. Incredibly, It was only good enough for second in the league behind Ty Cobb’s .420. It’s still the sixth-highest single-season total since 1901. His .468 on-base percentage led the league, and he posted a .590 slugging average. Truly a remarkable season.
It’s hard to imagine how one could improve on a season like that, but he came close in 1912. That year Jackson’s batting average “slumped” to.395, but he led the American League in hits (226), triples (26), and total bases (331). He also collected 44 doubles, 90 RBIs, 35 stolen bases, a .458 on-base percentage, and a .579 slugging percentage,
Jackson’s phenomenal run was not finished. The next year, 1913, may have been the best of the three. His 197 hits, 39 doubles, and .551 slugging percentage all led the American League. He hit .373 for the year, with 71 RBIs, 17 triples, 26 stolen bases, 291 total bases, and a .460 on-base percentage. Jackson struck out only 26 times in 623 at-bats.
Over this three-year span, from 1911 to 1913, Joe Jackson’s batting average was .392, with an average per year of 218 hits, 118 runs scored, 42 doubles, 21 triples, 81 RBI, and 34 stolen bases. It would be hard to come up with a better three-year span. In 1999, he ranked number 35 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. The fans voted him as the 12th-best outfielder of all-time. He also currently ranks 33rd on the all-time list for non-pitchers according to the win shares formula developed by Bill James.
Jackson once told his own version of how he acquired his famous nickname. It happened during a “mill game” while he was playing with the Spinners. One day he was wearing a pair of ill-fitting new baseball spikes. The fit was so bad, they caused a bad case of blisters. The next day he was still in discomfort. He couldn’t even put on his old spikes. Since the team was short on players, his manager wanted Jackson in the lineup despite the blisters. He consented to play, but his feet still hurt so much that he had to take his shoes off before taking his turn at bat. He went to the plate in his stocking feet. As fate would have it, Jackson hit a triple. The bleachers were close to the field, and as he ran for third, a fan noticed his socking feet and yelled, “You shoeless sonofagun you!”
Joe Jackson never played in socks again, but the nickname – one of the most famous in all of baseball history – stuck with him for the rest of his life.
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: Classic Baseball Photography, by Donald Hoenig; The Photographs of Charles Conlon; and public domain.
Information: Excerpts edited from The Chicago History Files website: http://www.chicagohs.org/history/blacksox/joe1.html; and from the Joe Jackson Wikipedia page
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Gary: great article and a day to remember Greenville native, one of the great baseball players of all times. How could some be part of the scandal after setting a record for most base hits in the series total of “12” , record was broken in 1964.
Jackson and his famous Black Betsy bats. Blond Betsy, Caroliny, Ol’ Genril and Big Jim.
In 1915 JF Hillerich send Jackson a letter regarding three bats that he had ordered with reduce weights, during this period Jackson wanted bat with lower weights and may also change the lengths of his bats,
FYI- typo on photo of the members of White Sox with Jackson on the (left) you put 2929 , I think you wanted to type 1919
Thanks Andy for the kind words and great info! You’re right…that was a typo, since corrected. Glad to have you with us! -Gary
Gary: your site is a big “fresh of air” bringing the past of the game to the present moment in time is incredible, I glad to be here.
That was a great article, Gary. I would have loved to see him play. Any chance of ‘evidence’ for or against him being published by you. In the movie, he is portrayed as being really innocent but guilty by association and teammates finger pointing. I would think the teammates finger pointing was to get them off the hook. Who would ever have thought that Shoeless Joe would be involved, a real role model. I guess they thought with him in the court room they wouldn’t be indicted, huh? What do you think?
Thanks Larry. Whenever I do any thing on Shoeless Joe, it sets off the debate about the Black Sox scandal. Check out my Old Time Baseball Photos Facebook page later today when the article is posted there. It’ll be full of comments back and forth. I personally don’t think he did anything to “throw” the series once it started. Unfortunately, they cavorted with gamblers before the series started and money was exchanged. Like a tar baby, once they touched the gamblers, they could never be set free. And Jackson went down with them, regardless of his performance in the series. But I’m one of a few who thinks that once the series started, they were so screwed up mentally over this thing – the pressure of actually trying to “throw” a World Series on a national stage, and the fact that nobody knew what anybody else was doing – that they panicked and basically abandoned the “fix” and did the best they could to win. But in such a desperate mental state, I’m not surprised they lost the series to a real good team. So, in a sense, I guess they got what they deserved. But there’s no denying he was one of the greatest ever. I think he and Buck Weaver have suffered long enough for their minimal involvement in the scandal and he should be reinstated. The Hall of Fame should then follow.