Joe Jackson: A Biography

(Hardback)

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Description

Shoeless Joe Jackson's rise from the cotton mills of the American South to the big cities of the North is a classic American tale of rags to riches. Born of sharecropping parents in South Carolina, Jackson's perfect swing and legendary fielding ability would make him a star in the Major Leagues. Unfortunately, Jackson's legend was interrupted by his alleged involvement in baseball's darkest chapter, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, which ultimately banished him to participation in outlaw baseball leagues. Kelly Boyer Sagert recounts all phases in this legendary hitter's lifefrom mill worker to major league outfielder, to a central figure in a national scandal, and later, to his ventures as an entrepreneur and sometime ballplayer. In analyzing the life and surrounding cultural contexts of Jackson's time, the author examines how Shoeless Joe became the controversial but enduring legend that he is today. A timeline, bibliography, statistical appendix, and narrative chapter on the making of Jackson legend enhance this biography. It has been said that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports. Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters presents biographies on Greenwood's selection for the twelve best hitters in Major League history, written by some of today's best baseball authors. These books present straightforward stories in accessible language for the high school researcher and the general reader alike.

Reviews

"Sagert does an excellent job in covering Jackson's ability and personal life and interweaving the two with quotes from Joe and those who had an influence in Joe's life. Sagert also is successfully able to detail concise, short chapters that ably and capably document a part of Joe's life that makes for very interesting, easily understandable reading....[S]agert also provides in-depth information on the many facets of the debates as to Joe's possible Hall of Fame enshrinement. I found this portion of the book most interesting as it allows you to determine in your own mind, from a wealth of collected material, whether Joe should be placed in the Hall or should not be....Sagert has done excruciating research and uses other notable books on Jackson as not only reference material but also to make an assertion as to the man differing opinions of Jackson's life, ability, intelligence and integrity."-The Inside Game
Sagert does an excellent job in covering Jackson's ability and personal life and interweaving the two with quotes from Joe and those who had an influence in Joe's life. Sagert also is successfully able to detail concise, short chapters that ably and capably document a part of Joe's life that makes for very interesting, easily understandable reading....[S]agert also provides in-depth information on the many facets of the debates as to Joe's possible Hall of Fame enshrinement. I found this portion of the book most interesting as it allows you to determine in your own mind, from a wealth of collected material, whether Joe should be placed in the Hall or should not be....Sagert has done excruciating research and uses other notable books on Jackson as not only reference material but also to make an assertion as to the man differing opinions of Jackson's life, ability, intelligence and integrity.-The Inside Game

Author Bio

KELLY BOYER SAGERT is a freelance writer who has published biographical material with Gale, Scribner, Oxford, and Indiana University Press, focusing on athletes and historical figures. She is the author of Bout Boomerangs: America's Silent Sport, which has been published in 21 different countries.