Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Hall of Fame Debate

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.

Whether he actively threw the series or not, we’re going to first analyze his numbers to determine whether he’s Hall of Fame worthy but for the scandal. Jackson’s career spanned- years, and while he’s remembered as having played for the White Sox, Jackson also played for the Naps, Athletics, and Indians.

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

Well maybe not H.O.F. worthy from looking at those right away, but he seemingly hit for average. Now I’ll post his advanced numbers, which are pretty impressive.

9.4 walks percentage, 4.2 strikeout percentage, .423 on base percentage. 517 slugging percentage, and a .940 OPS. These are great numbers and H.O.F. numbers in fact.

Aside from the numbers, his biggest roadblock is the’19 World Series incident. Jackson’s team, opposing the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series, lost, and Jackson and all of his teammates were accused of intentionally throwing the World Series in what became known as the “Black Sox scandal”. Despite these accusations, Jackson batted .375 with a World Series record 12 hits. Never made any errors either. One could easily argue that Jackson didn’t throw the series.

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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