MLB History: Top Fifty Players in Baseball History
By David Hill
49. Shoeless Joe Jackson
These days, Shoeless Joe Jackson is remembered for his questionable role in the Chicago White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series and how he is banned from baseball despite his adamant claims of innocence. Yet, Jackson was one of the best of his era, a player who rivalled the great Ty Cobb as the best hitter in the American League.
A player with excellent speed and a great batting eye, Jackson had an amazing ability to make contact. He led the league in hits twice and triples three times, yet in his best season in the Majors, only led the AL in on base percentage. That year, he posted a .408/.468/.590 batting line with 45 doubles and 19 triples while stealing 41 bases. It was truly a great performance.
In his career, cut short due to his ban from the game, Jackson posted a .356/.423/.517 batting line with 307 doubles and 168 triples. He ranks third all time in batting average and 17th in on base percentage. Those 168 triples are still 26th in MLB history, leading one to wonder where he would have ranked had his career come to its natural end.
Alas, despite being found innocent in court, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended Jackson and seven other members of the White Sox for life. An illiterate, it is even doubtful that Jackson would have understood any paper that he would have signed for a payout to throw the World Series, and he did produce a .375/.394/.563 batting line with four extra base hits during the postseason in question. However, he is still on the outside looking in.
Shoeless Joe Jackson was a truly great hitter, but his accomplishments on the diamond cannot be discussed without his disputed involvement in throwing the 1919 World Series. At this point, the truth of what really happened may never be known.
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