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This wonderful colorization by Don Stokes is from a photo taken in Shoeless Joe’s last year as a major leaguer- and arguably his finest before he would be permanently banned.
That year the 32-year-old Jackson hit 12 home runs, knocked in 121 runs and batted .382. He also led the majors in triples with 20. And even so the White Sox as a team had a fine year with a 96-58 win-loss record, it was only good enough for second-place in the American League, finishing just two games behind the eventually World Series champions Cleveland Indians.
But during the 1920 season rumblings were surfacing on Jackson’s involvement in the growing betting scandal from the 1919 World Series, and even so he and his teammates were acquitted by a Grand Jury of all charges, newly appointed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis laid down the hammer and expelled all the players suspected, including Jackson, from the Majors for life. And Shoeless Joe Jackson’s career came to a sad and unfortunate end.
He doesn’t look like a 32 year old, more like a 52 year old.