A Park (if you can find a space to park, that is) and Grab. You are searching for a small container about the size of a film canister, hidden from casual view. BE STEALTHY! At times there are LOTS of muggles! It is NOT located on the statue!
NOTE: Here's the hint since this can be a very muggly place: On top of the brick pillar beneath the sign on the side behind Joe's right shoulder, tucked in between the brick and the black part of the sign.
PHOTOS ARE VERY WELCOME!
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Joseph Jefferson Jackson, the greatest natural hitter in baseball, was born July 16, 1887 in Pickens, South Carolina to a laborer named George Jackson and his wife Martha. Joe officially started his textile mill baseball career when he was 13, when he convinced his mother to allow him to play for the Brandon Mills men’s baseball team. He was the youngest player on the team and made $2.50 a week to play on Saturdays. When Jackson was still only 15 years old, Charlie Ferguson, a local fan and lumberman created “Black Betsy” from the northern side of a hickory tree. This 36-inch-long, 48-ounce bat was lacquered in numerous coats of tobacco juice, would serve Joe well throughout his baseball career and would be sold for $577,610 in 2001. Joe would be known for playing left and center field for most of his career.
He began his professional baseball career with the GREENVILLE SPINNERS in 1908, with baseball cleats on his feet. In fact, when he first began his baseball career, he was simply known as Joe Jackson, an exceptional hitter. In his first and only year with the Spinners, he hit .350, showing power and played stellar defense. By the time he was a teenager, Jackson was hitting circles around more seasoned baseball players.
In 1908, the not-yet-shoeless Joe was playing a mill game with the Spinners. Jackson had recently purchased a new pair of baseball cleats, and they were causing him a great amount of discomfort. He tried the cleats out the day before, only to find that they caused blisters and irritation of his feet so severe that he could no longer even bear to wear the shoes. For an ordinary player, this might be enough to keep him on the bench until his injuries cleared up. However, thanks to his hitting prowess, Jackson's coach still wanted him in the line-up, despite his discomfort.
So, when it came time for him to bat, Jackson did what any reasonable person would do: He removed his uncomfortable, blister-inducing cleats and went up to bat in just his stocking feet. In the seventh inning, Jackson hit a triple, and began rounding the bases in his socks. Reportedly, one fan called out from the bleachers "You shoeless sonofagun you!". Although he never again played shoeless, the nickname stuck, and from then on, Jackson became known as "Shoeless Joe.”
Shoeless Joe Jackson was eventually traded to the Chicago White Sox, and his baseball career began to take off. He was an exceptional hitter, influencing none other than the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth himself. "I copied (Shoeless Joe) Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter," Babe Ruth once said of Jackson's influence.
Over the three-year span from 1911 to 1913, Jackson’s batting average was .392, with an average per year of 218 hits, 118 runs scored, 42 doubles, 21 triples, 81 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases!
Shoeless Joe would likely have left behind a remarkable baseball legacy, except his reputation was marred in 1919, when he was embroiled in a cheating scandal. Fed up with being consistently underpaid by the White Sox owner, Charles Comiskey, Jackson and eight other team members were accused of accepting payments of up to $20,000 in exchange for throwing the 1919 World Series. The players were to be paid out in $5,000 installments, but they began to balk when the gamblers that were backing the fix were stalling on their payments. The players then decided to abandon the fix and played the rest of the series to win, but it was too little, too late, and the Cincinnati Reds ended up taking home their first pennant.
When news of the scandal broke, Jackson denied involvement, and the players were ultimately acquitted in court. However, Shoeless Joe and the eight other players were still banned from professional baseball for life by the baseball commissioner and Jackson's career was brought to an untimely end.
Although he made several attempts to be reinstated, including an attempt to be accepted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was never successful. While Shoeless Joe is remembered for his unusual lack of footwear, and his exceptional talent, the unfortunate cheating scandal remains a black mark on his legacy.
Still, today we gladly shine our baseball spotlight on Joe Jackson and one of baseball’s truly great nicknames!
FTF Honors go to josh.boggs with son Bubba on New Year's Day!!!
The Coveted STS Honoirs go to pikespice!!