Shoeless Joe Jackson's rise from the cotton mills of the American South to the big cities of the North is a classic American tale of rags to riches. Born of sharecropping parents in South Carolina, Jackson's perfect swing and legendary fielding ability would make him a star in the Major Leagues. Unfortunately, Jackson's legend was interrupted by his alleged involvement in baseball's darkest chapter, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, which ultimately banished him to participation in outlaw baseball leagues. Kelly Boyer Sagert recounts all phases in this legendary hitter's life—from mill worker to major league outfielder, to a central figure in a national scandal, and later, to his ventures as an entrepreneur and sometime ballplayer. In analyzing the life and surrounding cultural contexts of Jackson's time, the author examines how Shoeless Joe became the controversial but enduring legend that he is today. A timeline, bibliography, statistical appendix, and narrative chapter on the making of Jackson legend enhance this biography.
It has been said that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports. Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters presents biographies on Greenwood's selection for the twelve best hitters in Major League history, written by some of today's best baseball authors. These books present straightforward stories in accessible language for the high school researcher and the general reader alike.
"Sagert does an excellent job in covering Jackson's ability and personal life and interweaving the two with quotes from Joe and those who had an influence in Joe's life. Sagert also is successfully able to detail concise, short chapters that ably and capably document a part of Joe's life that makes for very interesting, easily understandable reading....[S]agert also provides in-depth information on the many facets of the debates as to Joe's possible Hall of Fame enshrinement. I found this portion of the book most interesting as it allows you to determine in your own mind, from a wealth of collected material, whether Joe should be placed in the Hall or should not be....Sagert has done excruciating research and uses other notable books on Jackson as not only reference material but also to make an assertion as to the man differing opinions of Jackson's life, ability, intelligence and integrity."-The Inside Game
Book Description
A biography on Shoeless Joe Jackson that traces the life of one of baseball's master hitters and one of its most controversial players.
Kelly Boyer Sagert, a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), Author's Guild and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has sold over 1,000 pieces of her writing to magazines, newspapers, online sites, encyclopedias and literary journals. Her first play, Freedom's Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad, (sponsored by the Lorain County Metro Parks), received excellent reviews, including:
"Lorain's Kelly Boyer Sagert concocted "Freedom's Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad." It's an engrossing account of a one woman's journey from slavery in the South to freedom right in Lorain County via the legendary Underground Railroad (which, of course, has nothing to do with locomotives or tunnels).
Sagert's ear for colloquial dialogue matches her command of American and Ohio history and her heart for looking inside an African American woman and the spirit of black and white Americans who fought for freedom." (Lorain Morning Journal, May 4, 2009)
Sagert has written nine books and is under contract for another book. She has contributed material to more than one dozen other books, including chapter 4 of Colonial America: From Settlement to Revolution by ABC-Clio.
Her books include: * Flappers (Greenwood Publishing, 2009) * FabJob Guide to Become a Freelance Writer (FabJob, 2009) * FabJob Guide to Become a Fitness Club Owner (FabJob, 2009) * Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports (Greenwood Publishing, 2008) * American Pop Culture Through History: The 1970s (Greenwood Publishing, 2006) * FabJob Guide to Become A Funeral Director (FabJob, 2005) * All-Time Greatest Hitters: Joe Jackson (Greenwood Publishing, 2004), a look at one of the most talented--and controversial--athletes of our century * Birth of Illumination (2001), a work-for-hire book about the rise of the public library system in Toni Morrison's hometown * 'Bout Boomerangs: America's Silent Sport (PlantSpeak Publications, 1996), which the Australian boomerang coach called "nearly perfect"
For the past 9 years, Boyer Sagert has taught writing to adults, worldwide, through the Internet for the company that publishes Writer's Digest.
Boyer Sagert also served as managing editor of Northern Ohio's Over the Back Fence for nearly four years (1997-2001). This magazine, which profiled the art, history, intriguing people and fascinating places along Lake Erie's shores, was nominated by Writer's Digest for their "Top 100 Award" in 1998 and 1999. She served as the contributing editor for the Southern Ohio edition of Over the Back Fence as well, and she also edited five trade magazines and numerous business directories, community guides and travel planners for the company.
Boyer Sagert currently works fulltime as a writer, editor and speaker. She writes biographical and educational material for encyclopedias and other anthologies, including publications put out by Macmillan and Gale Group, Charles Scribner's Sons, ME Sharpe, Harvard University Press, Oxford University Press, University of Indiana Press and Facts on File. She also writes marketing materials for a wide variety of companies.
She speaks regularly on communications issues at writer's conferences and workshops, including those held at The Ohio State University, Youngstown State, Kent State University, Bowling Green State University and Lorain County Community College. She has spoken at Progressive Field (the Cleveland Indians stadium) and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and she appeared on an ESPN2 program called "The Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame the Black Sox."
