Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball

by Harvey Frommer sports historian, journalist, and author of Remembering Yankee Stadium

Overview

Another peek at baseball's good old days—or, in this case, bad old days—by veteran sports-historian Harvey Frommer. Frommer paints Shoeless Joe as a baseball natural ("Joe Jackson hit the ball harder than any man ever to play baseball"—Ty Cobb), an illiterate hick (his table utensils consisted of knife and fingers), and an innocent man snared by the greatest scandal in baseball history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630760083
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2016
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,090,761
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Harvey Frommer is the celebrated author of more than forty-two sports books, including Remembering Yankee Stadium, Remembering Fenway Park,and A Yankee Century. Frommer is a professor in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program at Dartmouth College. He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Prologue 1

1 Greenville 3

2 Philadelphia 17

3 Cleveland 29

4 Chicago 59

5 1919 85

6 World 97

7 1920 121

8 1921 159

9 First Man Out 171

10 Afterwards 185

Appendix: The Joe Jackson Grand Jury Testimony 191

Bibliography 217

Index 219

Sixteen pages of photographs follow page 114

Editorial Reviews

"A definitive book about Joe Jackson."

Sports Books File

"A must read -should be the final word on the 1919 White Sox."

Yankees Magazine

"New insight into baseball's greatest disgrace."

Houston Post

"Fresh perspectives. Deserves a place on your shelf right next to Eight men Out."

Village Voice

"A fresh look at the Black Sox scandal."

USA Today

"An extraordinary publication. Terrific read. What a book."

Larry King

"Absolutely essential reading. Enlightening text. A vivid biography."

Dallas Morning News

Frommer's 30th book is a distinctly minor effort. It tells the tale of the illiterate South Carolina boy who had what Ty Cobb described as the most natural swing in baseball and who was banished from the game following the Black Sox scandal of 1919. But Frommer adds little to what is already known. He makes clear, as have other authors, that Joe Jackson was almost certainly not one of the Chicago players who conspired with gamblers to lose the World Series, although he was approached by those who had and did not report the contacts. Frommer does a fine job of pointing up the dissension between the cliques on the team and makes a plea for Jackson's admission to the Hall of Fame. The book includes a valuable appendix presenting Jackson's testimony before a Chicago grand jury, which reinforces the contention that the player was indeed a tragic victim. Photos not seen by PW. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Get the book. It's a fascinating and fast read.

Utica Observer Dispatch - Gene Carney

Get the book. It's a fascinating and fast read.
— Gene Carney

Utica Observer Dispatch

...an interesting collection of data about the Black Sox scandal and the times that spawned it.

San Antonio Express News

...expertly re-creates the so-called ragtime era when players were miserably paid by their owners—none worse than White Sox owner Charles Comiskey—and gambling was common.

The Houston Post

Fresh perspectives. Everyone from Judge Landis to Alan Dershowitz is called in as a witness. Deserves a place on your shelf right next to Eight Men Out.

The Village Voice

A vivid biography of the greatest natural hitter ever, and a thoughtful, tightly reasoned plea for reconsideration of his ban from baseball.

The Dallas Morning News

A fresh look at the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Baseball Weekly