Joe Jackson's 1915 Player Contract

[Bicem]

Picked this up and pretty excited about it. Shoeless Joe Jackson's 1915 contract extension for the 1917 and 1918 seasons signed and executed 4 days before his trade to Chicago. I assume it was very important to Comiskey to get Jackson extended at the bargain price of $6K per season as part of the trade. Was Jackson being underpaid for so long part of his motivation to take part in the Black Sox scandal?

It's secretarial signed as we know Jackson rarely signed things himself. It's also signed, approved and stamped by Ban Johnson prior to the start of the 1917 season (first season of the contract).

Important piece of history in my opinion that would not look out of place in the Hall of Fame, maybe Joe will be there too someday.

[ksfarmboy]

Very cool Jeff, congratulations!

[NiceDocter]

Incredible Joe Jackson item…. didn’t know anything like this even was known!!

[ruth-gehrig]

That's pretty sweet! Wonder what the marked out section of the contact said. So apparently my assumption is wrong. I thought Jackson signed absolutely necessary things such as contracts. I know ive seen something he legitimately signed, maybe his drivers license or document?. How would a secretarial signed contract even hold up if it were challenged in court(me thinking aloud). Regardless that's a heck of a pickup

[mrozie21]

Very nice pickup

[TUM301]

Very nice Joe J item Sir and an absolute homerun addition to your collection. Enjoy for a long time My Man, congratulations !

[rand1com]

Maybe this was his personal copy which would not require a signature at all and someone ghost signed for him since it was not required on his copy but I am pretty sure the official copy for the team and league had to either be signed by him or have an "x" witnessed for his signature and signed by that party as a witness.

I certainly do not know this for a fact but clearly that is not Jackson's signature so I highly doubt this was the team's official copy.

Still, a neat and rare Jackson item for sure and clearly a legitimate copy of his contract and likely the only one in existence.

[doug.goodman]

Whatever the exact details it's an amazing item. Congrats.

[WillowGrove]

Very cool Jeff. Congrats.

[Bicem]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Maybe this was his personal copy which would not require a signature at all and someone ghost signed for him since it was not required on his copy but I am pretty sure the official copy for the team and league had to either be signed by him or have an "x" witnessed for his signature and signed by that party as a witness.

I certainly do not know this for a fact but clearly that is not Jackson's signature so I highly doubt this was the team's official copy.

Still, a neat and rare Jackson item for sure and clearly a legitimate copy of his contract and likely the only one in existence.

Do we know players even received a copy of their contracts back then? I was under the impression that they did not.

This was the copy the Commissioner signed and stamped at the start of the season, just like you see with pretty much every contract from that era that comes up for sale.

[3-2-count]

World class item Jeff!

Huge Congrats!

[perezfan]

That's a jaw-dropper, Jeff.... Many congrats on landing that epic piece!

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by Bicem

Do we know players even received a copy of their contracts back then? I was under the impression that they did not.

This was the copy the Commissioner signed and stamped at the start of the season, just like you see with pretty much every contract from that era that comes up for sale.

I do not know that for a fact, obviously.

I know from the 40's on they did as I have seen many unsigned player contracts from this era but they were signed and dated by all team and league officials just as the official team/league copy. It obviously started at some point in time. It would make sense the the player would receive a signed copy but this was over 100 years ago so maybe not.

I would assume that the team official would witness any player signature on the club's copy for proof of the agreement and if a proxy signature was the method there would be a notation as to the actual signer on the behalf of the player if illiterate.

As far as I know, it is the only copy to come to auction so certainly it could be the team's copy.

I'm sure Hunt Auctions did a thorough examination of this item.

It is a great find. Value will sky rocket if he gets into the HOF. Congrats.

[Bicem]

I'm not so sure on that part about Hunt Auctions but the rest makes sense to me.

And thanks everyone!

[parker1b2]

Great item! Congrats!

[RICHIEHARRIS]

Terrific item!
I visited the Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, SC, a couple of years back. Great experience! It was a renovation of the home where he lived with his wife and was later moved to its present location. There is a statue of him on the outside and a great gift shop that helps fund the upkeep.
They have a copy of a Jackson-signed legal document behind glass; the curator commented that 'they would need a 24-hour armed guard at the case' if the document was the original. He said the original is in a secured setting at an undisclosed location, assuming he meant a vault.
On the lighter side, the curator and staff have a relationship with those from the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Ga, and have ballgames against each other alternating between the two locations at adjacent ballfields.