Chicago White Sox: Time to end the ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson

Chicago White Sox outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson is one of the more infamous players in baseball history, due to his lifetime ban for his alleged participation in throwing the 1919 World Series. It is time to end his banishment.

Over the course of baseball history, few players may be more controversial than Shoeless Joe Jackson. One of the greatest hitters of his time, he was seemingly on his way to a Hall of Fame career when his time in professional baseball was cut short. Due to his alleged involvement with a plot to throw the 1919 World Series, the Chicago White Sox outfielder was given a lifetime banishment by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, although Jackson, and the seven other accused players, were acquitted during their trial.

Almost 100 years after his final game, Jackson remains banned from the game, his legacy tainted by those accusations. Jackson claimed that he had given everything he had on the diamond at all times, saying “God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise.” Based on his lifetime statistics, where he produced a .356/.423/.517 batting line with 168 triples and 307 doubles, it is hard to argue otherwise.

Jackson even preformed well in that infamous Black Sox World Series. If he was on the take, it was hard to tell by his performance, as he .375/.394/.563 batting line, hitting a homer and driving in six runs. With that performance, Jackson led the White Sox in batting average and slugging percentage, adding to his claim that he was innocent of those charges.

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Nonetheless, Jackson is considered to be permanently ineligible from the Hall of Fame due to his lifetime ban. And yet, that was not always the case. When the Hall first opened in 1936, he was on the ballot, receiving two votes. Jackson resurfaced again in 1946, when he was one of 76 players on the nominating ballot. Again, he received two votes, and did not move on to the next phase.

These lower vote totals, and his exclusion from the Hall of Fame were understandable while Jackson was alive. After all, he was given a lifetime ban from the game. It would not have made sense to reward him for his career with induction during that time. Despite his protestations of innocence, that banishment was not overturned.

However, the great White Sox outfielder passed away from a heart attack in 1951 at the age of 64 years old. His passing came before a scheduled interview, where he was going to set the record straight about his later years, and, presumably, about his involvement in the World Series fixing scandal. Unfortunately, that interview would never take place.

With his passing, Jackson fulfilled the terms of his banishment. The ban called for Jackson to be removed from the game for life, a condition which has been met for nearly 70 years at this point. However, attempts to reinstate the disgraced outfielder have met with resistance. A. Bartlett Giamatti declined reinstatement, feeling that his case was better served through historical analysis. Bud Selig continued to say the case was “under review,” but never made a decision during his tenure. Current commissioner Rob Manfred has refused to reinstate Jackson, saying that impossible to overrule Landis’ determinations over 95 years afterwards.

Chicago White Sox

And yet, there are questions as to how pure Landis’ motives truly were. The players were found innocent during the course of the trial, a decision that he completely disregarded. Lefty Williams, one of the conspirators, said that Jackson’s name was added only to give the give the plot more credibility. Jackson himself tried to tell team owner Charles Comiskey about the attempted throwing of the World Series, only to have the owner refuse to meet him.

Even with the evidence proving that Jackson was not involved, and the testimony of those who threw the series, Jackson remains outside the good graces of baseball. The White Sox star is in the Hall of Fame, his cleats and pictures a part of baseball history, preserved for all to see. His inclusion, and his bust immortalized in bronze, is not, a travesty that should be rectified in short order. One of the greatest players in baseball history, and one found innocent, should not be outside of the game any longer.

Although Manfred is refusing to reverse the decision made by Landis all those years ago, it is time. This dogged determination to avoid righting a wrong that perpetuated nearly a century ago just speaks to the short sighted nature of the commissioner. It does not matter that Landis was determined to rule with an iron fist and made an example of Jackson – the terms of the punishment have been fulfilled. Extending his banishment into the afterlife does not make any sense.

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Chicago White Sox legend Shoeless Joe Jackson was banished from the game of baseball for life. He fulfilled those terms with his passing on December 5, 1951. It is time to reinstate Shoeless Joe, and allow him to take his place in the Hall of Fame.