hen his Major League career ended in 1920, Joe Jackson's lifetime batting average was .356, third all-time behind only Ty Cobb (.367) and Rogers Hornsby (.359). Joe Jackson left his mark on the game of baseball in other ways as well. The great Babe Ruth once admitted "I copied Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw."

The oldest of seven children born to George Elmore and Martha Ann Jackson, Joe joined his father at the age of seven working in the cotton mills as a "linthead" (clean up boy). By the age of 13, Joe was working 12 hours a day in the mills. Having not attended school, Joe did not learn how to read or write and had little in the way of a formal education.

As a teenager, Joe's form of recreation was to play pickup games of baseball. Because of his natural talent, Joe caught the attention of the local Brandon Braves team. The $2.50 that Joe earned playing Saturday ball for the Brandon Mill team, he gave to his parents to be spent for his family. At the age of 19, Joe signed a contract with the Greenville Spinners and played the first half of the 1908 season making $75 a month.

On August 25, 1908, Joe made his Major League debut for the Philadelphia A's and went 1 for 4. Being homesick, Joe returned to the familiar surroundings of Greenville after playing in only 5 games for Connie Mack and the Athletics. One year later, Joe reported to Savanna and played in the South Atlantic League.

After being promoted to New Orleans in 1910, Joe was purchased by the Cleveland Naps of the American League. Towards the end of the 1910 season, Joe saw action in 20 Major League games and in 75 at-bats, hit an impressive .387. Officially, Joe Jackson's rookie season came in 1911. That season, he became the only rookie in

 

baseball history to ever bat over .400 as he hit an astounding .408.

Joe was traded to the Chicago White Sox on August 21,1915 for outfielders Braggo Roth and Larry Chappel along with pitcher Ed Klepfer and $31,500 cash. As a member of the White Sox from 1916-1920, Joe never hit below .300.

After being acquitted in the 1921 criminal trial, Joe returned home to Savanna, Georgia and joined the Semi-Pro Leagues. Joe helped lead the 1923 Americus Georgia team to a championship over Albany, afterwhich he became a player-manager for the Southern Georgia Waycross team.

In 1924, Joe and several of his Black Sox teammates sued Charles Comiskey for 3 years backpay. Although the jury awarded Joe $16,711.04, the judge in the case overruled the jury and had Joe jailed for purgery.

Joe continued to live in Savanna, Georgia through 1929 and ran a dry cleaning business while caring for his ill mother. In 1933, Joe returned to Greenville and managed various local baseball clubs for a number of years. It was also in 1933 that Joe and his wife Kate opened a liquor store business.

Joe and his wife never had any children and on December 5,1951 Joe Jackson died of a heart attack.

In the last few years, several attempts have been made to have Joe Jackson reinstated and enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In January 1998, Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Ted Williams represented Joe and petitioned Commissioner Bud Selig to have Jackson reinstated. Two years later, United Sates Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Strom Thurmond (R-S. Carolina) and Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) also petitioned Commissioner Selig seeking Joe's reinstatement. The Commissioner has yet to make a final ruling.