Born on July 16, 1887 in Pickens County, South Carolina, “Shoeless” Joseph Jefferson Jackson is frequently regarded as one of the best baseball players of all time. Joe's career as a baseball player was punctuated with a (then) all time high batting average of .356 (currently the third highest batting average on record); “Shoeless Joe's” influence was so substantial that baseball legend Babe Ruth “"... copied [“Shoeless” Joe] Jackson's style because [he] thought [“Shoeless” Joe] was the greatest hitter [He] had ever seen...”. Though his name was obscured by the “Black Socks” scandal of 1920, Joe Jackson managed to surmount his inferior circumstances, chief among which were poverty and illiteracy, to be considered a Baseball Legend. Due to his family's poor economic situation, Shoeless Joe Jackson needed to work at a steel mill, marking his first step towards his career as a professional ball-player, an illiterate, Joe Jackson was exploited in the Black Socks scandal, but his passionate attitude propelled him through another twenty years of minor league baseball until after his death in 1951, marked by the commemoration of his legacy with the standard amenities supplied to other deceased baseball greats.
“Shoeless” Joe's early start in baseball came about specifically as a result of his poor family's need for money, and would prove to work to his advantage in his latter years. Joe Jackson's rise to fame in the field of baseball began in 1900, when his mother arranged for him to play baseball on Saturdays for the price of two dollars and fifty cents, at the age of thirteen. As he progressed in the sport, “Shoeless” Joe went in search of better contracts from other mill baseball teams, who would offer him higher wages than the cur...
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...his quote, he declares his dauntless passion for baseball, as well as his genuine earnestness in his actions.
While “Shoeless” Joseph Jefferson Jackson may not have been given the same advantages that other ball-players of the time were given, valuable resources, an education, and the favor of the Major League Baseball Association, he nonetheless managed to apply his experiences as a lower middle class American to become a great baseball player. “Shoeless'” life experiences demonstrate not only the clichéd “rags to riches” ideal in many a fair tale, but also the fact that one's experiences early in life can drastically impact an individual's adult life. Regardless of his tarnished reputation in major league baseball, Joe was commemorated after his death in December of 1951 with the typical memorials for any baseball great, ballparks, statues, museums and the like.
Babe Ruth is still a very well-known person in history today, even almost one-hundred years later. He did not only change the way people viewed negro baseball leagues, but he also gained a large reputation for his ability to play baseball, obviously due to his amazing abilities. Ruth’s ability to play was almost impossibly good, in fact, he was even titled “athlete of the century” for his ability. With that ability and power that he had once he won, he would become a
In “Jackie’s Debut: A Unique Day,” is written by Mike Royko, and appeared in the Chicago Daily News on Wednesday, October 15, 1972, the day after Jackie passed away. This article is about one of the most famous and cultural African Americans to ever play the game of baseball. In the beginning of the story, there were wise men sitting in the tavern that had something to say about Jackie. They weren’t the kindest words and said that he would ruin the game of baseball. Jackie was going to be at Wrigley Field and the kid had to see him perform. Him and his friend always walked to the baseball games to avoid streetcar fare. On that day, Wrigley Field was packed. He had never seen anything like it, there were about 47,000 people there and at the
“If you build it, he will come” (Kinsella 1). These words of an announcer jump start a struggle for Ray Kinsella to ease the tragic life of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Ray hears a voice of an announcer which leads him to build a baseball field that brings Shoeless Joe Jackson onto the field. However, this field puts his family on the verge of bankruptcy which is just one of the struggles Ray Kinsella is presented in his life. Shoeless Joe Jackson is no stranger to having no money, as he was only making a measly $1.25 as a kid struggling to support his family. He never attended school and was illiterate throughout his entire life. The struggle is completely the same with Ray Kinsella growing up, as he is forced into baseball, which ultimately makes him run away from home. Ray’s hate is Joes love. Joe loves baseball and makes it to the major leagues, but it doesn’t last. Joe’s career is cut short due to the fact he is accused of throwing the World Series, and banned from baseball forever. Rays’s father would have loved it if his son made it to the major leagues because he thought Ray had the potential and talent. However, his only dream was simple, he wanted to play a game of catch with his son, unfortunately, he passed away and he never got to see his son after he ran away. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s death wasn’t any better, as he died guilty of throwing the World Series which was the biggest sports tragedy to date. Tragedies are not uncommon phenomena, Ray Kinsella and Shoeless Joe Jackson have the unfortunate luck to go through a struggle fulfilled and uphill battle in what is suppose to be a wonderful thing, life.
won a prize for "Diamond Doom," a baseball mystery. At age eighteen, he published his
It helped that Jackson loved to be around the games, as a kid he and other neighborhood kids would play “stickball”, a form of baseball using a tree branch and a beat up tennis ball. As a teenager, he would be working out or practicing constantly at his high school trying to get better (Jackson and Schaap, 43). Not only did Jackson work hard, he had a great work ethic throughout his career. He was the kind of ballplayer who was the first one to the field, even before the coaches, and the last one to leave the field. Jackson was born with great athletic ability, but that can only go so far for an athlete.
For this rhetorical analysis paper I chose one of my favorite, and most famous, sports speeches of all time, Lou Gehrig’s farewell to baseball address. Lou Gehrig was a famous baseball player in the 1920’s and 30’s. Lou didn’t really need to use a attention getting introduction, he was well known and loved by so many that people piled into Yankee Stadium to watch and listen to him give this speech. Although he didn’t need an attention getter, he began his speech with one of the greatest baseball quotes of all time, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” (Gehrig, 1939) Every single time I hear or read that opening line it sends chills down my spine and stops me for a moment to reflect on everything that is going on in my own life.
One of the major stands that were made during a black athlete’s tenure during his or her sport were their statements on racism. Racism in America was an ongoing situation in the 1900’s that seemed to have no resolve before black athletes took a stand. One prime example can be Jackie Robinson who became the first African-American athlete to play baseball in the modern era. Jackie grew up in one of the most racist towns in Pasadena, California and came from a poor family as his parents were sharecroppers and...
Jackie Robinson’s ability to successfully integrate his sport set the stage for many others to advocate for an end to segregation in their respective environments. His period of trials and triumphs were significant to changing American perception of the Civil Rights revolution. By becoming the first African-American baseball player to play in the major leagues, he brought down an old misconception that black athletes were inferior to white athletes. Successively, his example would inspire those advocating for their civil rights, he lived out a message of nonviolence similar to the one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived out. Despite the constant prejudice he faced in his sport, he was able to keep himself composed and never retaliate.
An extraordinarily ordinary man, a “democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint” Andrew Jackson provided the means for Americans to better understand themselves (Parton PBS). Over time the perception of Jackson and his demeanor has been changed. As one historian stated, “at one time, [when they looked at Jackson] they saw the frontiersmen, the poor boy made good, the classic self-made man” (Feller PBS). In modern times, Jackson has become a more unsavoury figure; namely due to his reputation for displacing Native American tribes and repurposing their land for American settlements and communities. Still, the debate over who Andrew Jackson was, or perhaps is, can be described as a contemporary one. Nonetheless, his actions, and vociferous reactions, make Jackson a very divisive figure in American politics. Cogently stated by historian “He is an inescapable American, but of what kind?” (Feller PBS).
"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.
On March 14th, 1947’ Michael (Mike) Wesley Ferguson was born in Detroit, Michigan. When Ferguson was just three weeks old his mother passed away. This left Mike’s father, John to raise eight kids. John remarried which brought the family to eleven kids. He loved all sports growing up, but found a special passion for baseball. Growing up the youngest of eleven kids, Ferguson was always the smallest one. He joined the local baseball team at the age of four, and his passion for the game began there. Ferguson was always the starting pitcher on his local school team. John moved the family to Hickory, North Carolina after a job emerged as a furniture factory manager when Ferguson was only 15. After high school, at the age of 18, he signed up for the
Born in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913, James Cleveland Owens would prove to be one of the greatest athletes of his time. He was the seventh child born to Henry Cleveland and Emma Alexander Owens. Being that Owens was the son of a sharecropper, a grandson of a slave and an African-American, he was treated with disrespect and indecency (Trust 1). “J.C.”, as people called him, was not born into fame and a luxurious lifestyle; however his determination and willingness to succeed made his family background seem inconsequential. Defying the beliefs of racism during his time, James Owens (later known as Jesse) was one of the first men to change the way people viewed athletes of his kind, but more importantly the people of his race.
Historical and sociological research has shown, through much evidence collection and analysis of primary documents that the American sporting industry can give an accurate reflection, to a certain extent, of racial struggles and discrimination into the larger context of American society. To understand this stance, a deep look into aspects of sport beyond simply playing the game must be a primary focus. Since the integration of baseball, followed shortly after by American football, why are the numbers of African American owners, coaches and managers so very low? What accounts for the absence of African American candidates from seeking front office and managerial roles? Is a conscious decision made by established members of each organization or is this matter a deeper reflection on society? Why does a certain image and persona exist amongst many African American athletes? Sports historians often take a look at sports and make a comparison to society. Beginning in the early 1980’s, historians began looking at the integration of baseball and how it preceded the civil rights movement. The common conclusion was that integration in baseball and other sports was indeed a reflection on American society. As African Americans began to play in sports, a short time later, Jim Crow laws and segregation formally came to an end in the south. Does racism and discrimination end with the elimination of Jim Crow and the onset of the civil rights movement and other instances of race awareness and equality? According to many modern sports historians and sociologists, they do not. This paper will focus on the writings of selected historians and sociologists who examine th...
The first African American to play Major League baseball once said, “a life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives”; this was, of course, Jackie Robinson. Similar to Muhammad Ali, he faced problems head on a...
Simon, Scott. 2002. Jackie Robinson and the integration of Baseball. Turning points. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons.