Would it change a thing if ‘Shoeless Joe’ were reinstated to baseball?

It has been 95 years since Joe Jackson played his last ballgame for the Chicago White Sox, and 63 years since he was even alive.

Still a baseball persona non-grata

Yet some people are determined to try to reinstate the man who got bounced from baseball following the 1919 World Series – which the White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds and for which Jackson was one of eight ballplayers later indicted on criminal conspiracy charges claiming he took money to lose ballgames.

OF COURSE, PEOPLE argue that Jackson was acquitted of those charges by a jury in Cook County, while others will claim that jury was so biased that their verdict was arguably more ridiculous than some people believe the “not guilty” verdict was for O.J. Simpson.

The problem becomes that whatever happened with the World Series that year and whether Jackson, or any, of the ballplayers took money from gamblers to lose happened so long ago that just about anybody who knew anything is dead.

This becomes a “paper trail” investigation that already came up with a result.

Which is why it would seem baseball officials aren’t about to do anything. Giving us such non-news headlines on Tuesday as “MLB won’t reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson.”

THE SHOELESS JOE Jackson Museum that operates out of Jackson’s one-time home in Greenville, S.C., released a letter it received from baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred saying they don’t intend to do anything to change Jackson’s status.

The White Sox' all-time duo ...

“The results of this work demonstrate to me that it is not possible now, over 95 years since those events took place,… to be certain enough of the truth to overturn Commissioner (Kennesaw M.) Landis’ determinations,” which were that Jackson knew of efforts to throw a World Series and didn’t do anything to stop it.

Some claim that Jackson took $5,000 from gambling interests, but somehow managed to play well – coming up with numbers that indicate he didn’t stink (a high batting average, and the only home run of that World Series).

While others say this proves statistics don’t tell the full story, and in fact can be deceptive.

... won't become a trio anytime soon

ADMITTEDLY, THE JACKSON Museum has an interest – they’d like it if the guy they promote were to become an official part of baseball again. Rather than someone whom baseball would prefer to forget. Just like Pete Rose – who also has a lifetime ban from baseball for gambling (and a criminal conviction with six-month prison sentence for tax evasion).

Then again, I’m sure the White Sox would also like it if they could go back to publicly acknowledging that one of the greatest ballplayers ever wore their uniform – and that he could join Luke Appling and Frank Thomas as being among the greatest White Sox ever.

But aside from their marketing efforts, would it really change much. Would Jackson gain any points to his .356 lifetime batting average (second only to Ty Cobb’s .362)?

Would the White Sox gain any more wins to their lifetime career? It’s not like we’d get to change the 1919 World Series result and claim a victory over Cincinnati?

THERE WOULDN’T BE any one less person sneering or snickering at the White Sox for being the only team caught throwing a World Series (even though there have been rumors from other World Series and ballgames in general of that era having suspicious results).

Is Jackson plight more about backing Rose?

Or anyone thinking any less of Jackson from amongst those people who want to believe that Shoeless Joe would have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame decades ago – if only he hadn’t had that World Series stain on his record.

So I’m sure some people are going to be miffed at baseball officials for not being willing to resurrect this issue all these years later.

But barring the discovery of evidence that we can’t even conceive of at this point, it may be that baseball officials have the right idea in mind to just go forward. Rehashing the past never changes anything!

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EXTRA: 100 and 50 years ago this date; 35th & Shields the place to be?

The Chicago White Sox were in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday night, finishing up a series against the Los Angeles Angels that has been as dismal (three losses thus far) as much of this season (55-63, or a .466 winning percentage).

So if you want to find a moment of glory connected to the Sox, you have to turn to history.

FOR IT SEEMS that Aug. 20 is a fairly historic date connected to the American League’s franchise in Chicago.

It can be argued that the greatest ballplayer to ever wear the White Sox uniform was “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, whom the White Sox acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on Aug. 20, 1915.

Back in the day, it was a big money deal – Cleveland got $31,500 in cash, along with three journeyman ballplayers. The White Sox got the guy who arguably was the second-best hitter in the American League – behind Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers.

Seriously, how many .400 hitters (.408 in 1911, compared to .420 for Cobb that same season) can’t even win a batting title. And still hold the Cleveland and Chicago team records for triples.

JACKSON, OF COURSE, went on to help the White Sox win American League championships in 1917 and 1919. They got a World Series title in the former, but about all most people remember about Jackson these days (aside from thinking he looks and sounds like actor Ray Liotta) is that he was one of the eight ballplayers who got indicted on criminal charges for allegedly taking money to play less-than-well during the ’19 World Series.

LENNON: Above 'sacred' ground

That was a stink that lingered over the franchise for decades; one that some Cubs fans would like to think still ought to be associated with the ball club all these decades later.

Of course, time passes, and it was 50 years later to the date that another moment occurred on the grounds where Shoeless Joe once roamed.

The White Sox themselves were in Kansas City, Mo., to play the Athletics – whom they beat 3-1.

BUT THE BALLPARK still saw one of the city’s moments – the Beatles were on their 1965 tour of the United States, and 50 years ago this date they were in Chicago.

Where the music fans packed their way into the 45,000-seat ballpark to see one of the biggest rock music groups ever give one of their many less-than-stellar performances.

It’s the drawback of playing day after day after day of the same set of songs. Although I’m sure those who were actually on hand in the ballpark that day could care less. For all I know, the prepubescent screams drowned out the actual sounds of music that came from White Sox Park that day.

Even Ringo Starr gave an interview in the basement of the ballpark saying he thought that the people in the stadium, “they’re too far away, really” to enjoy the music.

SO WHAT SHOULD we think of Aug. 20, 2015?

The shorts, on display

Somehow, I suspect there won’t be anything terribly notable about the date. Unless you get excited by the anniversary coming up on Saturday – 49 years since the last time the White Sox ever wore shorts during a regulation ballgame.

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EXTRA: Will Sammy draw ‘Cinco’ (as in percent) of Hall of Fame votes?

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., is expected to announce Tuesday whether any of the ballplayers under consideration were capable of reaching the ’75 percent’ level of support required for enshrinement.

We’re also going to learn how many of the nearly three dozen former ball players under consideration received so little voter support (under 5 percent) that they won’t even be eligible for future consideration.

PLAYERS LIKE FORMER White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye and Chicago-area native Cliff Floyd likely will fall below, while former Cubs relief pitcher Lee Smith and White Sox outfielder Tim Raines will come up again in that perennial baseball time period known as ‘next year.’

Then, we have to consider the fate of Sammy Sosa, the one-time Cubs slugging outfielder who was once the very personification (at least for those nit-wits who couldn’t look beyond Wrigley Field) of what Chicago baseball was all about.

I’m not about to get into a debate about what should happen to Sosa’s legacy as a ballplayer. If you care, I’ve written about it before. But I find it intriguing to wonder whether Sosa’s stint as a Cub will continue to haunt baseball geeks with way too much time on their hands.

He is one of those 1990s-early 2000’s players where there is circumstantial evidence that he used performance-enhancing substances (a.k.a., steroids) to bulk up and improve his abilities.

THAT HAS MANY sportswriters/voters who used to praise Sammy’s persona to now refuse to acknowledge him. Will the opposition grow to the point where he falls off the ballot for future consideration?

The BaseballThinkFactory.org website has developed a running count of Hall of Fame ballots as various sportswriters indicate publicly who they cast votes for. Sammy is literally at the cut-off point (4.5 percent as of Monday afternoon). Could he get a sudden boost from voters who weren’t accounted for to keep this quarrel going on?

Could it turn out that 600-plus home runs just aren’t enough to overcome steroids speculation that, if in a court of law, wouldn’t rise to the level of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ needed to convict?

Then again, baseball always thinks it has its own standards. One-time White Sox outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven teammates were banned from baseball for life, even though a Cook County court jury acquitted them of any criminal responsibility for their actions in the 1919 World Series.

SO FOR SOSA, the relevant statistic is no longer 3 (as in the number of seasons in which he hit 60 or more home runs, which no other ballplayer has ever been able to do).

It’s 5 (as in percent of the sportswriter vote received), so we can continue to debate this issue for years to come. Because a good quarrel is just what any baseball fan wants to do during the winter months when our temperatures dip to below 10 degrees!

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