Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Hall of Fame Debate

Posted in sports on 26. Nov, 2009

It’s amazingly been over 90 years since it occurred, but the legendary’19 World Series scandal most definitely lives on with baseball historians and any enthusiasts of the game. With much controversy these days about Pete Rose and his possible place in Cooperstown, another figure with parallels to Rose is Shoeless Joe Jackson, who played for the’19 White Sox (also known as the “Black Sox”) for their role in throwing the’19 World Series against the Reds.

Shoeless Joe has some very impressive stats over his- year career. He is known for playing with the White Sox, but played with a total of 3 other teams, having played with ith the Athletics, Naps, and Indians for half a season. He posted very good standard stats that should alone be hall of fame worthy.

1772 hits, 307 doubles, 168 triples, 54 home runs, 785 RBIs, 519 walks, 158 strikeouts, and a .356 batting average.

This may not scream out obvious hall of fame, however, the .356 batting average would easily clear those standards in today’s game. Here are some more impressive stats we can deduce by taking a closer look at his numbers.

Jackson had an OPS of .940, an on base percentage of .423, and struck out just once every 24 times at the plate. These numbers are very impressive in their own right, and make a stronger case for Shoeless Joe.

Now let’s get into the Black Sox scandal of’19. The White Sox faced the Reds in the World Series. The White Sox lost the series and Joe Jackson, and eight other players were accused of throwing the series. But Shoeless Joe stats show he did not play poorly. Do you think a .375 average and 12 hits (a world series record) is throwing the series? His fielding percentage in the series was 1.000, having made no errors.

Some have pointed out an abnormally high number of triples the Reds hit to left field (where Jackson played), but research shows this to be inaccurate, as the Reds hit no triples to left field that series. Contradicting his numbers is the fact that Jackson did accept a $5,000 check. It would seem that Jackson reluctantly accepted the money with his teammates, but most likely didn’t want to actually throw the series.

The Legend of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Let him in? It is your decision.

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