Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
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In 1908, Jackson began his professional baseball career with the Greenville Spinners of the Carolina Association, married 15-year-old Katie Wynn, and eventually signed with Connie Mack to play for the Philadelphia Athletics. He would have been around 21.
Playing for his hometown minor league team for $75 a month, Jackson hit .346 to lead the 1908 Carolina Association, while also leading the league in hits and RBI. In August, 1908, his contract was purchased by Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics for $900. Jackson immediately reported to the Athletics and made his major league debut.
Jackson missed most of the 1918 season while working in a shipyard because of World War I. In 1919, he came back strongly to post a .351 average during the regular season and .375 with perfect fielding in the World Series. However, the heavily favored White Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds. The next season, the 32 year-old Jackson batted .382 and was having one of his best overall seasons, leading the American League in triples and setting by large margins career marks for home runs, RBIs, and fewest strikeouts per plate appearance, when he was suspended, along with seven other members of the White Sox, after allegations surfaced that the team had thrown the previous World Series.
After the White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, Jackson and seven other White Sox players were accused of accepting $5,000 each (around to $87,000 in 2023) to throw the Series. In September 1920, a grand jury was convened to investigate the allegations. Jackson's 12 base hits set a Series record that was not broken until 1964, and he led both teams with a .375 batting average. He committed no errors, and threw out a runner at the plate. However, the Reds hit an unusually high number of triples to Jackson's position in left field.
In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted Jackson and his seven teammates of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed Commissioner of Baseball, imposed a lifetime ban on all eight players. "Regardless of the verdict of juries," Landis declared, "no player that throws a ballgame; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.”
Jackson's involvement in the scandal remains controversial to this day. He reportedly refused the $5,000 bribe on two occasions—despite the fact that it would effectively double his salary—only to have teammate Lefty Williams toss the cash on the floor of his hotel room. Jackson then tried to tell White Sox owner Charles Comiskey about the fix, but Comiskey refused to meet with him.Unable to afford legal counsel, Jackson was represented by team attorney Alfred Austrian—a clear conflict of interest. Before Jackson's grand jury testimony, Austrian allegedly elicited Jackson's admission of his supposed role in the fix by plying him with whiskey.
Years later, the other seven players implicated in the scandal confirmed that Jackson was never at any of the meetings. Williams said that they only mentioned Jackson's name to give their plot more credibility, although he did not say why Jackson would have been paid $5,000 had that been the case. Jackson's performance during the series itself lends further credence to his assertions, although the game records show that he hit far better during the "clean" games than those which were thrown.
During the remaining 20 years of his baseball career, Jackson played with and managed a number of semi-professional teams, most located in Georgia and South Carolina, under different assumed names. In 1922, Jackson moved to Savannah, Georgia, and opened a dry cleaning business with his wife.
In 1933, the Jacksons moved back to Greenville, South Carolina. After first opening a barbecue restaurant, Jackson and his wife opened "Joe Jackson's Liquor Store", which they operated until his death.
As he aged, Jackson began to suffer from heart trouble. In 1951, at the age of 64, he died of a heart attack.
Inside Shoeless Joe Jackson's resting place
Unseen footage of Shoeless Joe Jackson's grave
Controversial career of Shoeless Joe Jackson
Untold story of Shoeless Joe Jackson
Baseball scandals revealed
Link to the store for shirts, mugs and hats!
backroads.myspreadshop.com
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UC9dnvvg1YqxK7d2KQjzoQ_g/join
Support the channel through Paypal:
ffpodcastsec@gmail.com
Support through Patreon!
patreon.com/backroads1
The Second Channel
Back Roads Golf
youtube.com/channel/UC1SyAlmRqg32d4yFA8jt0aA
In 1908, Jackson began his professional baseball career with the Greenville Spinners of the Carolina Association, married 15-year-old Katie Wynn, and eventually signed with Connie Mack to play for the Philadelphia Athletics. He would have been around 21.
Playing for his hometown minor league team for $75 a month, Jackson hit .346 to lead the 1908 Carolina Association, while also leading the league in hits and RBI. In August, 1908, his contract was purchased by Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics for $900. Jackson immediately reported to the Athletics and made his major league debut.
Jackson missed most of the 1918 season while working in a shipyard because of World War I. In 1919, he came back strongly to post a .351 average during the regular season and .375 with perfect fielding in the World Series. However, the heavily favored White Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds. The next season, the 32 year-old Jackson batted .382 and was having one of his best overall seasons, leading the American League in triples and setting by large margins career marks for home runs, RBIs, and fewest strikeouts per plate appearance, when he was suspended, along with seven other members of the White Sox, after allegations surfaced that the team had thrown the previous World Series.
After the White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, Jackson and seven other White Sox players were accused of accepting $5,000 each (around to $87,000 in 2023) to throw the Series. In September 1920, a grand jury was convened to investigate the allegations. Jackson's 12 base hits set a Series record that was not broken until 1964, and he led both teams with a .375 batting average. He committed no errors, and threw out a runner at the plate. However, the Reds hit an unusually high number of triples to Jackson's position in left field.
In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted Jackson and his seven teammates of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed Commissioner of Baseball, imposed a lifetime ban on all eight players. "Regardless of the verdict of juries," Landis declared, "no player that throws a ballgame; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.”
Jackson's involvement in the scandal remains controversial to this day. He reportedly refused the $5,000 bribe on two occasions—despite the fact that it would effectively double his salary—only to have teammate Lefty Williams toss the cash on the floor of his hotel room. Jackson then tried to tell White Sox owner Charles Comiskey about the fix, but Comiskey refused to meet with him.Unable to afford legal counsel, Jackson was represented by team attorney Alfred Austrian—a clear conflict of interest. Before Jackson's grand jury testimony, Austrian allegedly elicited Jackson's admission of his supposed role in the fix by plying him with whiskey.
Years later, the other seven players implicated in the scandal confirmed that Jackson was never at any of the meetings. Williams said that they only mentioned Jackson's name to give their plot more credibility, although he did not say why Jackson would have been paid $5,000 had that been the case. Jackson's performance during the series itself lends further credence to his assertions, although the game records show that he hit far better during the "clean" games than those which were thrown.
During the remaining 20 years of his baseball career, Jackson played with and managed a number of semi-professional teams, most located in Georgia and South Carolina, under different assumed names. In 1922, Jackson moved to Savannah, Georgia, and opened a dry cleaning business with his wife.
In 1933, the Jacksons moved back to Greenville, South Carolina. After first opening a barbecue restaurant, Jackson and his wife opened "Joe Jackson's Liquor Store", which they operated until his death.
As he aged, Jackson began to suffer from heart trouble. In 1951, at the age of 64, he died of a heart attack.
Inside Shoeless Joe Jackson's resting place
Unseen footage of Shoeless Joe Jackson's grave
Controversial career of Shoeless Joe Jackson
Untold story of Shoeless Joe Jackson
Baseball scandals revealed
