CHAPTER 1 BLACK SHEEP OF BASEBALL Baseball player Joe Jackson once wore only socks for a minor league game because his shoes weren’t broken in A reporter at the game gave him the nickname Shoeless Joe Jackson didn’t like the nickname but it stuck Jackson played 13 seasons in the major leagues He had a lifetime batting average of 356 which is the third-best of any player in Major League Baseball MLB history Many people believe Jackson should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame But he might never be because he was banned from baseball for life Jackson played for the Chicago White Sox in 1919 The White Sox were the American League champions and were heavily favored to win the World Series When they lost to the Cincinnati Reds many in the baseball world thought there was something suspicious about the outcome Shoeless Joe Jackson was one of several White Sox players implicated in the Black Sox Scandal
Two years before the scandal Jackson center and the White Sox beat the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series Eight Chicago players were accused of taking money from gamblers to intentionally lose the World Series Three Chicago players admitted they had cheated Jackson said he took the money but did not change the way he played His 375 Series batting average was the highest of the regular players on either team Though none of the eight players were arrested all were banned from baseball for life in 1921 The controversy became known as the Black Sox Scandal
KENESAW MOUNTAIN LANDIS In response to the cheating that was taking place Major League Baseball MLB owners named Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis the game’s first commissioner in 1920 One of his first jobs as commissioner was to place a lifetime ban on the eight players involved in the Black Sox Scandal Landis eventually banned 10 more players from other teams for cheating and gambling Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the MLB commissioner until his death in 1944
