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Old 02-27-2007, 01:20 PM
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Default Shoeless Joe Jackson

Posted By: E, Daniel

How much do you recall at all about Shoeless?
I think this is absolutely a case of never saw it so you won't rate it.
When all you have is statistics (well that, and the fact his contemporaries - including the legends, thought he was a marvel) it's pretty unlikely you are going to do any justice to evaluating his game.
Many of us saw Pete Rose and thought he was a fierce competitor who willed himself to get hits as much as owning a great stroke of any sorts. Awesome player maybe, but here's what Shoeless' contemporaries said about him:


"Everything he hit was really blessed. He could break bones with his shots. Blindfold me and I could still tell you when Joe hit the ball. It had a special crack." - Ernie Shore

"He (Shoeless Joe Jackson) was the finest natural hitter in the history of the game." - Ty Cobb

"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

"(Shoeless Joe) Jackson's fall from grace is one of the real tragedies of baseball. I always thought he was more sinned against than sinning." - Connie Mack



Perhaps he's actually even better than most give him credit for when the debates about him arise.......and some of us think he was a pretty fine player!




Daniel

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