Corey
02-24-2004, 03:18 PM
The Story Of Shoeless Joe Jackson
Have you ever heard the story of Joseph Jackson or the 1919 Black Sox Scandal? Before I began to research Joe Jackson I never heard of the Black Sox scandal. I found it very interesting to learn about. In my story we will glance upon his childhood and then look deeper into his baseball career and how it developed into something so important to America and its reconstruction period. We will go into extreme detail on the 1919 White, Black Sox Scandal because I believe this is the most important to America during that time period. We will then look into the fight to put Joe into the hall of fame years after his death that are still going on today.
Joe Jackson had one of the worst childhoods of any baseball player. He grew up in the farming city just outside of Greenville, South Carolina. He had basically no school because he stopped going when he was six years old to help his parents work on the farm. He didn’t know how to read or write which would hurt him later in life tremendously. His parents were poor and had basically no money to help support him or the family. I’ve heard several different stories of why he got the nickname shoeless. One theory is that he would walk around with no shoes on because his family couldn’t afford any. Another is that when he was playing minor league ball for the athletics’ he was wearing a new pair of spikes. The news shoes hurt is feet so much that in the ninth inning he took them off and played “shoeless.” It could also be the both of them.
When Joe was 16 he had no skills at all. He was not very sociable and always had a confused look on his face. He began to work for a Textile Mill in Greenville. He hated the job, which paid almost nothing at all. He began to play for the Textile’s baseball team where he learned he had a fantastic arm and had excellent batting skills. He even was throwing once and broke the catchers arm because the ball was thrown so hard and so wickedly. Jackson caught some attention and was asked to come play for the local class D team where he was paid 75 dollars a month. He played excellent ball there as well and batter .346, which is outstanding for that time. He was bought by the Philadelphia Athletics’ for 325 dollars. He was now balling for a major league ball team but wasn’t in the pro’s yet.
Now this is where his illiteracy hurt Joe Jackson the most. He was so afraid to go to the city that he almost decided not to go. He grew up all his life on a farm and now he would have to go to a big city. He rode a train the whole way up north and would always buy the same food that he heard others saying because he couldn’t read the menu. When he began to practice with the team they would often argue with him and make fun of him because he was non-sociable and couldn’t read. He got three hits in his first major league game. Things didn’t work out because he fought so much with his team that he was sent back home to play on the minor league teams again. After the 1909 season the athletics again tried to let Shoeless Joe redeem himself. Again he fought with his teammates but only this time he was gone for good. They got rid of Joe which I believe was probably the smartest decision.
Have you ever heard the story of Joseph Jackson or the 1919 Black Sox Scandal? Before I began to research Joe Jackson I never heard of the Black Sox scandal. I found it very interesting to learn about. In my story we will glance upon his childhood and then look deeper into his baseball career and how it developed into something so important to America and its reconstruction period. We will go into extreme detail on the 1919 White, Black Sox Scandal because I believe this is the most important to America during that time period. We will then look into the fight to put Joe into the hall of fame years after his death that are still going on today.
Joe Jackson had one of the worst childhoods of any baseball player. He grew up in the farming city just outside of Greenville, South Carolina. He had basically no school because he stopped going when he was six years old to help his parents work on the farm. He didn’t know how to read or write which would hurt him later in life tremendously. His parents were poor and had basically no money to help support him or the family. I’ve heard several different stories of why he got the nickname shoeless. One theory is that he would walk around with no shoes on because his family couldn’t afford any. Another is that when he was playing minor league ball for the athletics’ he was wearing a new pair of spikes. The news shoes hurt is feet so much that in the ninth inning he took them off and played “shoeless.” It could also be the both of them.
When Joe was 16 he had no skills at all. He was not very sociable and always had a confused look on his face. He began to work for a Textile Mill in Greenville. He hated the job, which paid almost nothing at all. He began to play for the Textile’s baseball team where he learned he had a fantastic arm and had excellent batting skills. He even was throwing once and broke the catchers arm because the ball was thrown so hard and so wickedly. Jackson caught some attention and was asked to come play for the local class D team where he was paid 75 dollars a month. He played excellent ball there as well and batter .346, which is outstanding for that time. He was bought by the Philadelphia Athletics’ for 325 dollars. He was now balling for a major league ball team but wasn’t in the pro’s yet.
Now this is where his illiteracy hurt Joe Jackson the most. He was so afraid to go to the city that he almost decided not to go. He grew up all his life on a farm and now he would have to go to a big city. He rode a train the whole way up north and would always buy the same food that he heard others saying because he couldn’t read the menu. When he began to practice with the team they would often argue with him and make fun of him because he was non-sociable and couldn’t read. He got three hits in his first major league game. Things didn’t work out because he fought so much with his team that he was sent back home to play on the minor league teams again. After the 1909 season the athletics again tried to let Shoeless Joe redeem himself. Again he fought with his teammates but only this time he was gone for good. They got rid of Joe which I believe was probably the smartest decision.