Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson [Paperback]

David L. Fleitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson was one of baseball's greatest hitters and most colorful players. Born Joseph Jefferson Wofford Jackson on July 16, 1888, in Pickens County, South Carolina, Jackson went to work in a textile mill when he was around six years old, and got his start in baseball playing for the Brandon Mill team at the age of 13 earning $2.50 a game. He emerged as the star of the team and a favorite of fans with his hitting and throwing abilities, and moved up to play in the Carolina Association, where he received his nickname "Shoeless" because the blisters on his feet forced him to play in his stockings. He then made his move to the major leagues, signing on with the Philadelphia Athletics and rising to fame. This work chronicles Jackson's life from his poor beginnings to his involvement in the scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series to his life after baseball and his death December 5, 1951, with most of the work focusing on his baseball career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Whether you see him as a knowing co-conspirator with his "Black Sox" teammates or as an innocent rube tragically swept along in the plot to throw the 1919 World Series, "Shoeless Joe" Jackson was undeniably one of America's most remarkable hitters. The 80-year controversy over the scandal and Joe's fiercely loyal fans should provide interest in this new life of Jackson by first-time author Fleitz.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from major-league baseball for life as a result of his alleged involvement in the 1919 World Series gambling scandal. Because of the ban, Jackson, like Pete Rose, is ineligible for membership in baseball's Hall of Fame. In the scholarly yet readable style of the best baseball biographies (Charles Alexander on Ty Cobb or Robert Creamer on Babe Ruth), Fleitz carefully examines Jackson's life in order to distinguish reality from myth. Many view Jackson as a tragic figure, an illiterate phenom who was hustled by city slickers and left a broken man. Fleitz points out that Jackson was a shrewd character whose love of baseball was outstripped only by his love of money. After he was banned, he went home to South Carolina, where he became a successful businessman and, by most accounts, led a satisfying life bereft of bitterness. To paraphrase Fleitz, Jackson left home to play some ball, got into a little scrape up north, and came back home. This is a fine biography that clears up many of the misconceptions regarding one of baseball's most enduring controversies. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786409789
• ISBN-13: 978-0786409785
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced, thoughtful book, May 10, 2002

By 

Winslow Bunny "Winslow_Bunny" (Rockledge, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson (Paperback)

There has been a lot said and written about Joe Jackson by a variety of people - baseball people, baseball historians, scholars of the 1919 World Series, residents of the South (particularly South Carolina), and others. There's also been a variety of books produced about Jackson, most with his point of view or the "point of view he would have had," whatever that might have been at any point in time. It was with some skepticism that I picked up Fleitz's book and started to read, half expecting to see the same arguments that I've read before - Jackson as a victim, as the greatest player not in the Hall of Fame but for one mistake, and how he went back to South Carolina and scratched out a living (or was very successful, depending on which book you read).

Fleitz's book was a most pleasant surprise - it offers information that I haven't found anywhere else, and gives more "flesh" and substance to the person that was Joe Jackson than any previous account of his life that I had read. One point is the relationship that he had with his wife: always shown as the doting couple, Fleitz writes that this wasn't always the case. In baseball, he shows that Jackson wasn't the near-mythological player that he had been portrayed, and that he did fail at any number of clutch situations. By the same token, Jackson is also frequently mentioned as a batting role model to any number of famous players. The reactions of contemporaries thoughtout the book is also delightful feature.

A primary focus of the book is in the 1919 World Series and Jackson's role in that. Through the years Jackson has garnered significant numbers of supporters claiming that he was innocent; Fleitz offers evidence and opinions that he may not have been that innocent at all. There is also the issue of his initial acceptance of the gamblers' money. As with many people, I have my opinions of the World Series fix and Jackson's involvement. Prior to Fleitz's book, the opinion was a little fuzzier; after reading the book, it's become a little clearer. Was he innocent or guilty? Read the book and make your decision - it's well worth your time.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Shoeless Joe You Didn't Know, June 24, 2001

By 

Kyle Swaney (Somewhere In Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson (Paperback)

Baseball biographies come in all types, from boring descriptions of the player's performance in games, to tantalizing disconnected details of the player's life outside the lines, to full-fledged development of the player's life history and personality. This new book by David Fleitz falls more toward the latter. I recommend it to all baseball fans, especially ones (like me) who are fascinated by the lesser-known stars of the pre-Ruthian world.

Much of the book is devoted to Jackson's role in the Black Sox scandal, putting it into historical context and digging into the actions and motives of some of the key figures. The passages involving Charles Comiskey are especially revealing.

The road between city life and country life was much longer back then. Early baseball has many stories of the difficulties rural men faced when thrust into MLB's urban landscape. Because of his great physical skills, the illiterate Jackson is a highly compelling example of these stories. I now feel like I've met Jackson. Among the best baseball biographies I've read.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive Joe Jackson book, March 20, 2002

By 

The Nostalgist (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson (Paperback)

Great book. Separates the myth and the legend of Shoeless Joe Jackson from the "average Joe" and looks at his banishment from baseball in an honest, objective light. Author does an outstanding job of dissecting Jackson's behavior and possible motives throughout the scandal of the 1919 Black Sox.
But more importantly, more personal information about Joe is available on Joe throughout the pages of this text than any I have ever seen. This is a fantastic accomplishment as there is a lot of sappy, sentimental fluff out there about Joe Jackson and this book really made me feel as though I knew Joe, in addition to understanding what he was about.
This book is by far and away the best baseball book of the year (along with Reed Browning's Cy Young) and is amongst the best and most important baseball books ever written. If you're a serious baseball fan, you will enjoy SHOELESS!!