Shoeless Joe a Yankee? It almost happened.

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Posted By: Bob

I was reading an article in the Warren, Ohio newspaper dated February 20, 1918 in which it reported a meeting between Miller Huggins, Colonel Ruppert (Yanks owner), Ban Johnson (AL prez) and Charles Comiskey. The Yanks were in desperate need of a power hitter, it said, and during the meeting a deal was almost struck which would have sent Joe to NY. Ban Johnson was told that it was important for the sake of the AL that New York have a strong team and attempts to get Hughie Jennings and the Tigers owner to trade Cobb to NY had fallen through. Comiskey couldn't quite pull the trigger on the deal and the article told how Comiskey was a real "sportsman who would prefer to win the pennant than make a million dollars." (cough, hack...)
When the Jackson trade collapsed, Ruppert turned to another slugger, this one from Boston, and the rest is history...