Jackson, ‘Shoeless Joe’ (Joseph Jefferson) (1887–1951)

US baseball player. During his 13-year career as an outfielder 1908–20, mostly with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, he achieved a lifetime batting average of .356, third highest in major league history. He was banned from baseball in 1921 for his involvement in the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ scandal.

He was born in Brandon Mills, South Carolina. Along with seven other White Sox players, he was accused of conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds (even though he hit .375 in the Series). According to folklore, a youngster pleaded to him, ‘Say it ain't so, Joe’, after his testimony at the ‘Black Sox’ trial. Regarded as baseball's greatest ‘natural’ hitter, he remains ineligible for election to the Hall of Fame due to his permanent banishment from baseball.