It Wasn't So, Joe

The swing was a bit of poetry in motion. For someone who hit from the left side, sometimes, the stance a batter takes can be comical. But, not him. He seemed to be plucked right out of Central Casting, the baseball hero come to life. He stood erect, as befitting a Roman conqueror facing his ultimate foe throwing from a mound not too far away. The pitcher would be throwing fire at the hero, trying to smite him out through sheer intimidation and danger power. But, the hero would not cower. You see, he was made from the hand of God for these moments. The ball would try to cross the plate but it would be defeated in its purpose. Because the batter would swing and connect. And, the ball would travel faster and with more urgency than anyone had ever hit a baseball. Round the bases he would go, a familiar sight among his audience. When he would slide, the spikes would be at a non-dangerous level, so unlike some of his fellow players who delighted in spiking their opponents. He would be safe at the bag most of the time because a hero always triumphs. The hero on base loved baseball, it was all that he knew and loved. It flowed through his blood like, well, blood. Never could he remember thinking and feeling about anything else. It drove him and he would play anywhere, anytime. In fact, legend has it, he was so committed to the game of baseball that, in one game, he developed blisters on his feet from his spikes. But, he had an at-bat coming and he did what any baseball lover would do: he removed his spikes and played in his bare feet. And, true to form, he got a hit and rounded the bases and slid safely into third. His feet bloody and sore, he did what he had to. A heckling fan in the stands [and what would sports be without the heckling fans?], wise guy that he was, shouted at him, ''You shoeless son of a gun, you!'' The crowd roared, as did the players on the field. Therefore, from that time forward, the player, the baseball hero, had a new nickname: ''Shoeless"' Joe Jackson....... Joe Jackson was born on July 16, 1887, in Pickens County, South Carolina. His father was a sharecropper and moved the family several times in little Joe's youth. They were from the South, and being from the South at the turn of the century, chances were, you were very poor. And, the Jackson family was. Joe also suffered from several illnesses growing up. At 10, he contacted measles, which almost killed him. He lay in bed for two months, a tragic victim of paralysis. Slowly, he was nursed back to health by his mother. When he was well enough, at the age of 6, he went to work in the textile mills. This was the period of child labor exploitation, so, it was not at all unusual to see kids working so very young. He worked 12 hour shifts and had no time for school. In fact, for his entire life, he was illiterate. He never learned to read and write. He could not even sign his own name, again, not unusual in this time period........ Little Joe, adult worker in a child's body, had a talent he was born with. He could hit a baseball. And, hit it well. In cornfields and dirt patches, baseball was soaring among the youth in this time. Boys and baseball were a team bonded, for young men, there was no other thought than playing the game with your friends. It was easy and no money spent, a welcome thought for poor kids. Many boys had their bat made for them by their farmer fathers. Sawing the wood down to a fine coating, with no nicks in it, made for a fine weapon for the hitter. Joe Jackson was no exception in this crowd. His bat was homemade. But, the bat, however fine it was, did not answer the reason for his talent at the game. No, his talent was God-given. God gave him this ability to be so supreme at the game, almost effortlessly, that seemed to glide on the field like he was born to be there. He was a natural, made for the game. At that this tender age, he hit and ran like no one had ever witnessed before. And, he had a flair at pitching. One day, though, while playing for the mill's baseball team, he accidentally broke a player's arm with his fastball. This provoked fear among his rival players and no one wanted to face him anymore. Finally, his manager put him in the outfield. And, he flourished, hitting the ball and making himself a minor celebrity around the area. Soon, he was moving from mill team to mill team and, by 1908, Major League Baseball came calling for his services, when he signed with the Philadelphia Athletics. He also took a bride, 15 year old Katie Wynn [this was the South, remember]. For the first couple of years in the majors, he struggled, succumbing to the stereotypical story of the hayseed having trouble adjusting to the big time. He would bounce back and forth from the minors and, finally, out of frustration, Philadelphia would trade Joe Jackson to Cleveland in 1910. It was around this time that he picked up his nickname........ In 1911, he finally bloomed into his early promise. He hit a sizzling .408 batting average, second only to Ty Cobb. In fact, Cobb, the game's finest hitter and a notoriously horrible human being, actually found kind words for Joe Jackson. Baseball had a new power hitter in the illiterate boy from Pickens County. Fans became rabid to see him and followed his every move. Little boys, especially. Jackson was the idol of the little boy who dreamed of a baseball career, the little boy who slept with his glove underneath his pillow at night. He became a hero to emulate for other youngsters when they played each other on fields all over America. This was the time before radio, and, so, the only way to follow your hero was through newspaper accounts. Soon, anxious, eager boys were ripping the paper out of each others hands because they wanted to hear the latest exploits of their king of the diamond. Jackson never let them down. He seemed even better in the next few years---always one step behind Cobb but immensely more popular and accessible than the petulant Ty--- and he became a huge draw at home in Cleveland and on the road. Joe Jackson was mobbed wherever he went. People wanted to touch him and get his autograph. The sad irony was the man could not write his much-lusted after signature. His wife would write it for him......... Because he was such a hot property, naturally, other teams took a liking to him. Soon, offers flooded the offices of the Cleveland Indians, begging for the services of Joe Jackson. Apparently, the Chicago White Sox begged the loudest. Joe Jackson was traded to the White Sox in August of 1915. He found comfort and success in his new home but not among his fellow teammates. The other players seemed cold and distant to the simple Jackson, not at all like his former Indian players. Because there was such division in the clubhouse, Joe just played his game in an unassuming and modest way [much like he was in real life] and left the petty business and bickering to others. In 1917, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series and mostly because of the hitting of Joe Jackson. He played hard, perhaps, harder than he ever had. And, the adulation bestowed upon him showed in the Chicago faithful. The White Sox were a young and eager team that year, thirsting for more titles. With Joe Jackson front and center, their chances at more titles seemed very likely indeed....... In 1918, they did not repeat and the reason was simple: Joe Jackson was drafted into World War 1 and worked in a shipyard. The season was awash because he wasn't around to stir them into greatness on the field. In 1919, after the ''Great War To End All Wars'' ended, Joe Jackson was back in uniform and the White Sox came out charging. Joe Jackson was hitting .351 and his fielding was flawless. When they went to the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, the White Sox were heavily favored to blow the Reds away. Shockingly, they lost, which stunned the baseball world. The conventional wisdom was that the White Sox had blown out their energy during the hectic regular season and were too tired come the Fall Classic. The Reds, thought the public, had just played better........ But, they did not...... Charles Comiskey, the miserly owner of the Chicago White Sox, sure knew how to pinch pennies. He was the prototype of the exploitive, greedy owner that has always dominated the sports world. Comiskey shafted his players, the stars of all of baseball, to an almost poverty wage. This was 1919, remember, and ballplayers earned barely a living wage. Almost every baseball player had to work a winter job to make ends meet. Comiskey led his fellow owners in the cheap son of a bitch department. For his stars. they only made a couple of thousand dollars a year, if that. While there were other club owners [not many but some] who delivered a fair salary. Comiskey played the Mr. Potter part to a T. Soon, many White  Sox players grumbled amongst themselves about the lack of pay and the lack of respect. Because of the baseball reserve clause, there was no free agency. That binded a player to a team until the player was traded or retired. Many White Sox players were caught between a rock and a hard place. Comiskey would not blow the cobwebs off his wallet. The players needed money. That is when the Mafia came calling.......... The clubhouse was still divided. On one side was the ''Clean'' players, who just went out and did their jobs. On the other side, was the ''Black'' players, meaning they were not afraid to do whatever they had to make a buck. Joe Jackson was on the ''Clean'' side. He just wanted to play ball and that was it. But, others wanted to turn to the grey money offered by the underworld. A meeting was held, a mixture of the ''Clean'' and the ''Black'' sides. The offer was put out. In exchange for the White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series, professional gamblers [i.e. the Mob] was prepared to pay each player $5,000 dollars after the Series was lost. This was New York money, the big-time boys who were carving out the foundation of the  La Cosa Nostra. Led by gambler, Hyman Rothstein, the gamblers made the penniless ballplayers an offer they could not refuse........ Most did. Most, despite their animosity directed at Comiskey, wanted no part in the shady dealings being hatched. It has always been an open question about who actually agreed to participate. It is a fact that Eddie Cicotte, Oscar ''Happy'' Felsch, Arnold ''Chick'' Gandil, Fred McMullen, Charles ''Swede'' Risberg, George ''Buck''Weaver, and Claude ''Lefty'' Williams did have some part in throwing the games. Weaver always denied he did anything but he knew about the fix and it would later come back to haunt him. The biggest question mark was about whether Joe Jackson, ''Shoeless Joe'', the idol of the youth, was actually involved. He was certainly at the initial meeting and knew about what may happen. But, his defenders would later put out that Jackson was so simple and easily conned, that there was sufficient evidence to support his not being involved. His hitting in the Series was still stellar. But, he made many questionable fielding errors, so unlike his natural playing ability. For every success on the field, there was a costly mistake. Was he in on the fix? Or, did he succumb to the pressure of what was going on around him and he felt helpless? Even after all of these years, the jury is still out........ Rumors about what may have happened grew stronger as the 1920 season went on. The White Sox were in first place in September of 1920 when the ax fell on them from a grand jury. Eight White Sox players, including ''Shoeless'' Joe Jackson were indicted by the jury in connection of throwing the 1919 World Series. Soon, the media would coin a name for these eight, ''The Black Sox''. In his testimony before the grand jury, Joe Jackson admitted his role in the fixing. He talked about the errors in the field that he intentionally made so the Reds could score runs. Curiously, though, no such testimony to this effect appears in the official court records of the trial. This has been seized upon by Jackson's defenders as evidence he did nothing wrong. So, did he actually say in front of the grand jury what the media reported that he said? This is Chicago, folks....... A myth, very popular through the annals of baseball lore, has it that when Joe Jackson walked out of the courtroom, an innocent child said to him, ''Say it ain't so, Joe!'' Jackson retort, ''Yes, kid. It is so''. The truth is this incident never happened. Sure, there were heartbroken kids over what their hero may have done, but the Hollywood melodrama was false....... Charles Comiskey immediately suspended his ''Black Sox'' players and they lost the 1920 pennant. The grand jury recommended that all eight players be brought up on charges of conspiracy to defraud.  In 1921, the trial began. It was held in Chicago. Key evidence against the players went mysteriously missing, including the signed confession by Joe Jackson. The players were acquitted by the jury on all charges. Years later, the missing evidence would be found in the personal items of a lawyer. Charles Comiskey's lawyer....... Even after their verdict of not guilty was delivered, the eight players were still branded the ''Black Sox''. In no way did baseball want anything to do with them. The common thought was that most of the players were guilty of throwing the World Series and took the money [ the Mob shafted the players out of most of the cash. For their treason on the field, the players threw away their good names for a small amount of dough.]. The newly created commissioner of baseball, Judge Kennesaw Landis, barred the eight from baseball forever. Joe Jackson could play professional baseball no more........Was he a willing participant or was he a victim of his surrounding circumstances? Perhaps, at first, he wanted the money and went along with the plot. But, it is most likely that his conscience got to him, for he was a decent man by all accounts.When the games started, his natural decency would marry with his natural abilities. While he might have gone easy on some plays, his numbers bespeak another story. His World Series numbers show a man who was having a fine Series, the envy of any player. Jackson would spend the rest of his life proclaiming his innocence. He reportedly refused the $5,000 bribe on two separate occasions. And, he did try to tell Comiskey beforehand about the fix. True to form, Comiskey refused to talk to him or any of his players. And, there was the issue with his legal defense. Too poor to afford his own attorney, Jackson was represented by the White Sox team lawyer, an extraordinary thing because this was a clear case of conflict of interest. The story goes the lawyer, Alfred Austrian, coerced a confession of his role in the fix by getting Jackson drunk on whiskey. The lawyer was also able to get Joe Jackson to sign a waiver of immunity from prosecution, an interesting fact because Jackson could not sign his name. It wasn't until many years had passed that all of this came out. The other seven players,---- remember, never fond of each other at all, ---stated that Joe Jackson was never at any of the planning meetings........ The fallout was immense. Joe Jackson was disgraced, his public image besmirched. With his major league career in shambles, he managed a number of semi-pro teams in the minors. By 1922, he walked away from any baseball and he and his wife opened a dry cleaning business in Savannah, Georgia. This lasted for a few years until Jackson and his wife moved to Greenville, South Carolina and opened a liquor store. This would be how he lived until death came to him on December 5, 1951 at the age of 64......... Joe Jackson seemed to be a broken man for his last years. He did not turn to drink to ease his pain, he was not like that.Throughout his life, he remained the simple boy from the South who loved to hit a baseball. In those innocent days, when baseball was really baseball and real men played it simply for the love of the game, he stood tall at the plate, a Midas man who conquered his foes, even when he wasn't wearing his shoes. His influence on the game was so immense that, years after his death, there is in active campaign to finally get him enshrined in the Baseball Hall Of Fame. And, Hollywood has joined in by making him a major character in movies, most notably in ''Eight Men Out'' and the Kevin Costner classic, ''Field Of Dreams''. He should be in the Hall for his on-field triumphs. And, since his role in the throwing of the Series has always been murky, until it is proven he actually was guilty of something, the Hall Of Fame should induct him.......... There is a famous story about him in later years, often told. He was working at his liquor store, a modest, decent man making an honest, decent living. One day, his mighty on-field rival, Ty Cobb came into the liquor store. Cobb immediately recognized Jackson but Jackson seemed to show no sign of recognition towards Cobb. Finally, Ty Cobb stated, ''Joe, don't you recognize me? 'I'm Ty Cobb!''....... Joe Jackson replied quietly, ''Sure I recognize you, Ty. I just didn't know if you wanted to know me''..........