--- title: Why Shoeless Joe Jackson Is Better Off Banned From Baseball description: He’s better off remaining an outsider. He’s more interesting that way. canonical: https://time.com/4031064/shoeless-joe-jackson/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-12T16:00:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:35.924Z article:section: History og:title: Why Shoeless Joe Jackson Is Better Off Banned From Baseball og:description: He’s better off remaining an outsider. He’s more interesting that way og:url: https://time.com/4031064/shoeless-joe-jackson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ebc66d404a3557b/69886335428a9e5740ccf106/jackson.jpeg?branch=production&width=588&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 588 og:image:height: 331 og:image:alt: Headshot Of 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Shoeless Joe Jackson Is Better Off Banned From Baseball twitter:description: He’s better off remaining an outsider. He’s more interesting that way twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ebc66d404a3557b/69886335428a9e5740ccf106/jackson.jpeg?branch=production&width=588&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Shoeless Joe Jackson Is Better Off Banned From Baseball > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=49953fdf-19ea-4759-8735-28be1734970c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=49953fdf-19ea-4759-8735-28be1734970c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Football’s Ultimate Cost: The Chad Stover Story [Watch (HLS stream): Football’s Ultimate Cost: The Chad Stover Story](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OYDHBOhj.m3u8) (6:12)  _Published 2014-09-17. It was halloween night, and the Tipton Cardinals needed a tackle. Trailing 27-18 in the opening round of the Missouri high school playoffs, a stop here—would help keep Tipton’s fading season alive_ by [Charles Fountain / History News Network](https://time.com/author/history-news-network/) ## Charles Fountain / History News Network Sep 12, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  Headshot of American baseball player 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson (1889 - 1951) in his Chicago White Sox uniform, 1919 Headshot of American baseball player 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson (1889 - 1951) in his Chicago White Sox uniform, 1919 APA / Getty Images by [Charles Fountain / History News Network](https://time.com/author/history-news-network/) ## Charles Fountain / History News Network Sep 12, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  History News Network _This post is in partnership with the_ [_History News Network_](http://historynewsnetwork.org/)_, the website that puts the news into historical perspective. The article below was originally published at_ [_HNN._](http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160572) There was a moment this week when the legions of Shoeless Joe Jackson fans who have long worked for his reinstatement by Major League Baseball had a flutter of hope that their work might finally bear fruit, restore a reputation they feel has been unjustly damned, and finally open the door to the Hall of Fame for the player whose .356 lifetime average is the third highest in baseball history, the man both Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb called the greatest natural hitter they had ever seen. The Joe Jackson Museum—a charming little grassroots tribute to the ballplayer, housed in the home where he lived his final years in his native Greenville, South Carolina—posted to their website on Tuesday that they would have an announcement on Wednesday morning concerning the status of their petition to new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to have Jackson reinstated. Speculation on Internet news sites swirled overnight that the commissioner would be lifting Jackson’s ban for being a part of the conspiracy by eight members of the Chicago White Sox to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. That ban had been put in place in 1921 by Manfred’s predecessor, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, after the eight players were found not guilty on Series-fixing charges in a Chicago criminal court. Alas, the anticipated announcement was merely another disappointment to those who seek to restore Shoeless Joe’s reputation. It was simply the release of a letter from Manfred to museum director Arlene Marcley, in which he thanked her for her request on Jackson’s behalf, but told her “it would not be appropriate for me to re-open this matter.” So Joe Jackson’s stay in baseball purgatory continues, now 94 years and counting. Not that any of this matters to Jackson, who died in 1951 at the age of 62\. He batted .375 in that 1919 Series, with 12 base hits in eight games, a Series record that would stand for more than 40 years. He went to his grave maintaining his innocence, but also accepting of his fate. Unlike fellow banished Black Sox teammate Buck Weaver, who spent his life trying to clear his name and win reinstatement in the game, Jackson never once petitioned baseball to get back in. It has been left to others to do it for him. But Shoeless Joe is better off without the forgiveness of Major League Baseball, or a place in Cooperstown. There are 310 men currently in the Hall of Fame, with more added every year. Reinstatement, his eventual and inevitable election to the Hall of Fame, would make Jackson just one of the many. The story would finally have an ending, and an ending, happy or not, would also bring the end of remembrance. Instead, the extraordinary afterlife of Joe Jackson has allowed him to transcend the game and become an American cultural figure as few ever do. People who have never come closer to Joe Jackson than the pages of a biography, or Ray Liotta’s Jackson character in _Field of Dreams_, have embraced Shoeless Joe’s story and taken up his cause. Whether it’s Jackson’s famous illiteracy, his refusal, or inability, to play less than his best despite his alleged involvement—he did confess to knowing of the plot to throw the Series and accepting $5000 from the gamblers to do so—or something else altogether, there is a vulnerability in Joe Jackson that has struck a chord in the American psyche. People come to the museum in Greenville, stand in the bedroom where he died and weep. They visit his Greenville grave and leave mementos—notes proclaiming a belief in his innocence, bats, balls, gloves, and shoes, always shoes. They start petitions and write blogs and speak at symposia and keep the conversation alive. Was Jackson guilty or innocent? If his guilt stopped at simple knowledge of the plot, did he deserve to be banned for life? Or, as some point out, banned not just for life, but beyond life as well, banned for all eternity? Most significantly, what does the Jackson conversation tell us about the sometimes-profound consequences of individual decisions? About the personal price paid for the failure of institutions—for the Black Sox Scandal was as much about the ineptitude of Organized Baseball as it was about a handful of greedy players? How do we as a society assign guilt? How do we balance responsibility and mercy? How long do we hold sins bound? As long as Joe Jackson is on the outside looking in, we keep this conversation alive. His place in history is too important to be reduced to a plaque in Cooperstown. _Charles Fountain teaches journalism at Northeastern University. He is the author of_ [The Betrayal: The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-betrayal-9780199795130)_, to be published in October by Oxford University Press._ ### See Photos of Pete Rose Becoming Baseball’s All-Time Hits Leader  Outfielder Pete Rose #14 of the Cincinnati Reds salutes the crowd after surpassing Ty Cobb with his 4,192th hit that came against San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show on Sept. 11, 1985, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. Focus On Sport—Getty Images  Pete Rose #14 of the Cincinnati Reds follows through with the hit against the San Diego Padres during a game on Sept. 11, 1985 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rich Pilling—MLB Photos/Getty Images  Cincinnati Reds Pete Rose (14) in action, rounding first base after setting hitting record with No. 4,192 career hit during game vs San Diego Padres. Tony Tomsic—Sports Illustrated/Getty Images  View of the scoreboard saying as Pete Rose #14 of the Cincinnati Reds made his 4,192th hit. Rich Pilling—MLB Photos/Getty Images  Outfielder Pete Rose #14 of the Cincinnati Reds is surrounded by teammates and lifted in the air by Tony Perez #24, after surpassing Ty Cobb with his 4,192th hit. Focus On Sport—Getty Images  Pete Rose #14 of the Cincinnati Reds stands with an announcer in victory on his 4,192th hit. Rich Pilling—MLB Photos/Getty Images ## Transcript I describe it to people like an ocean. Like the waves, sometimes the waves come in and they're small and you can stand up. And sometimes they come crashing in no matter how hard you try to hold your ground. There's just nothing you can do. In early June, I went to Tipton to do a story about Chad Stover, a football player from Mattel, and it's affected me in ways I never could have imagined. [ MUSIC ] In Tipton Missouri, football is king. It's a small ad town. You know, everybody knows everybody. [ MUSIC ] In a small community like this, football players are, are also your basketball and your baseball players, for the most part. From the time he was little bitty. That's, that's what he always wanted to do. Football is a great game. At it's best it can bond small towns, particularly on the high school level. It's also a violent game. After we've experienced what we've experienced, we truly realized the depth. The ramifications that can come from just a hit. It's scary. The 2013 Tifton football season was, you know, kind of middling. They were, they weren't that great but they made the playoffs. And they were about to play Sacred Heart and it was Halloween night. Towards the midpoint of the first half, Cad was on defense and had a nasty head to head hit. It was quick and nobody as far as I could tell really noticed it, and he continued to play. There were just under seven minutes left in the second half. Chad dives, makes a fairly fundamental play, but the thigh of the running back hit Chad's head. Twice is asked, are you okay? Twice he says, I'm good, and he goes back into the huddle. I remember looking at the play clock and thinking [ MUSIC ] We're almost done. And my mom actually turned and looked at me and said season's almost over, time to move on, we're almost done Chaddy. Chad came out of the huddle. As he was almost lined up he collapsed into the arms. One of his best friends. [ MUSIC ] Petis County ambulance, what's the address of your emergency? Jennie Jaynes football stadium. Got a, we've got a kid down on the field. OK. Yeah, they said them need them now. We've got them on the way already. I knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. I wanted to run. I just wanted to get there as fast as I possibly could. And I had his helmet off. I had a tear running down the side of his face. And I just wanted him to know that I was there. And that I was with him. So I got on my knees and I kissed his head, and I told him it's all right Chadie mama's here. And I remember told, someone told me, he can't hear you and I told them I don't care. I just want him to know I'm here. And I said. Stayed right there with him. Chad was air lifted to the trauma center at the University of Missouri, he fought for two weeks little signs of hope here and there but his condition never really. [ UNKNOWN ] improved, after two weeks in the hospital, Chad [ UNKNOWN ] passed away. He was 17 years old. [ MUSIC ] This is Chads's bow he got last year Chad got to go one time with it We're spending a lot of time with each other now, knowing how valuable the time is and what memories we can make, we try to make them now [ MUSIC ] What happened to Chad and our family hopefully, never happens to anybody else. When he left that day, he was in such a great mood. he was going to play football, and we never dreamed we wouldn't see him here again. This shouldn't be just another sad story. It should spark a conversation [ UNKNOWN ] We don't blame anybody, or even the game of football for that. [ MUSIC ] Chad lives on. He lives on in our memories. He lives on in everything that we do. And maybe he can make a difference. [ MUSIC ] At the top, the NFL is more popular than it's ever been. But on the youth level, we're seeing declines of participation. people, parents, kids are afraid about concussions and, and safety risks in football. The big question is going forward, if precautions aren't taken 20, 30, 40 years from now, who's gonna be playing this game? Will we still have Friday night lights? 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