Joe Jackson Barnstorming Photo

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Posted By: Anonymous

Well....the memorabilia world is a whacky world. In my opinion....the photo would probably bring what was paid for it if auctioned in the right manner. It all depends on if a bidding war breaks out on it or not. I have several original team photos of Joe during his outlaw days.....and I never paid more than $100.00 for any of them.....not sure what would make this one so special compared to say a 1924 or 1925 team photo of Joe....or the 2 original 1923 Americus team photos (do not own those...both know where they are). I believe even if it turns out to be Jackson, the buyer will quite possibly not get their money back out of it.....$2,800.00 is a lot of money to pay for a photo...considering the provenance (or in this case...lack thereof). Lets just put it this way....I would not be sleeping well at night had a paid that kind of coin for a photo...and then have a few folks tell me it may not be Joe Jackson. I'd be on the next flight to Zanesville and I would search until I found something....one way or the other.

Several years ago....a company bought what was said to have been a game used Joe Jackson bat.....they then took that bat and sawed it up into little pieces and sold those pieces with a photo of Joe for a lot of money. They sent one to me and it had a picture on the back of what the bat looked like. As soon as I saw it...I knew it was not a bat that had ever been used by Joe Jackson. This bat was a YMCA Joe Jackson bat.....those bats were shipped to our servicemen overseas during World War I....Joe Jackson never saw that bat...much less used it in a game situation. I was the guy that broke that to SCD, who ran a story on it...I also contacted the company, who promptly recalled all the ones that had sold. They later went out and bought and had authenticated a game used Jackson bat........ They sawed that one up too (two more pieces of history gone forever)....it's absurd.....and to top that off....they sold the supposed SAWDUST from when they sawed the bat up......man...I wish I could get some suckers on that one........sawdust....give me a break. The memorabilia world has gone mad.............

My whole point on writing that book is this......even big companies make mistakes....they take the word of someone else without independent verification.....and it appears the buyer of this photo did the same. I do pray for their sake that we find out this IS Joe Jackson....my heart really does go out to them....for I fear the opposite is true.

Mike
Official Historian
The Shoeless Joe Jackson Virtual Hall of Fame Web Site
http://www.blackbetsy.com/
Home of the Joe Jackson model Louisville Slugger baseball bat offer.
The voice said "Build it and they will come".........and they have!!!!!