All-Time Indians: Shoeless Joe Jackson
| Name: | Joseph Jefferson Jackson | Position: | Rightfield | |||||||||||||
| Nick Name: | Shoeless Joe | |||||||||||||||
| Tribe Time: | 1910-1915 | DOB: | 07/16/1887 | |||||||||||||
| Accolades: | Top 5 MVP (1911,1913-1914) | |||||||||||||||
| Stats | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | TB | BB | SB | OBP | SLG | AVG | OPS | ISOP |
| Best Season (1911) | 147 | 571 | 126 | 233 | 45 | 19 | 7 | 83 | 337 | 56 | 41 | .468 | .590 | .408 | 1.058 | .182 |
| Career | 674 | 2502 | 474 | 937 | 168 | 89 | 24 | 353 | 1355 | 267 | 138 | .434 | .542 | .375 | .976 | .167 |
If you want to know about Shoeless Joe, watch "Field of Dreams" or "Eight Men Out". Joe Jackson got a bad rap when he was banned for life from Major League baseball for throwing the World Series as a member of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox. Whether he was paid off or not should not tarnish his time with the Indians, where he played at an extremely high level for five of his six seasons with the team. He should also have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but has been kept out because of the lifetime ban, even though he died over 60 years ago.
During his time with the Tribe, Shoeless Joe set quite a few records that would never be broken. In 1911 he became the first Indian to hit .400 during a season and remains the only player to do so. He also set the current team record for hits that season with 233. The next season Joe hit 26 triples, another Indians record, and had the second best batting average ever as well along with his 226 hits, good for fourth best all time. He also holds two career records, even though he played less than 700 total games for the Indians. He owns sole possession of the career batting title and is also tops in On-Base Percentage. He even ranks in the top five in triples though he played about 800 less games than the leader, Earl Averill.
Joe Jackson received his famous moniker when he decided rather than play an exhibition game with extremely tight cleats, he would play second base barefoot. As a result of that game, the nickname stuck and more people know him now as Shoeless Joe than as Joe Jackson. His ban from Major League Baseball has not kept him out of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame, where his memorial can be seen in center field at Progressive Field.
