Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 20th century.

Jackson's role in the scandal, banishment from the game, and exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame have been fiercely debated.

He spent 1908–1909 as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics and 1910 with the minor league New Orleans Pelicans before joining the Cleveland Naps at the end of the 1910 season.

Jackson holds the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox franchise records for triples in a season and career batting average.

He also ranks 33rd on the all-time list for non-pitchers according to the win shares formula developed by sabermetrician Bill James.

[4] A few years later, the family moved to a company town called Brandon Mill on the outskirts of Greenville, South Carolina.

[9] In an interview published in the October 1949 edition of Sport magazine, Jackson recalled he got his nickname during a mill game played in Greenville, South Carolina.

As play continued, a heckling fan noticed Jackson running to third base in his socks and shouted, "You shoeless son of a gun, you!"

[10][11] In 1908, Jackson began his professional baseball career with his hometown minor league team, the Greenville Spinners of the Carolina Association, married 15-year-old Katie Wynn, and eventually signed with Connie Mack to play for the Philadelphia Athletics.

[12][13][14] For the first two years of his career, Jackson had some trouble adjusting to life with the Athletics; reports conflict as to whether he did not like the big city or was bothered by hazing from teammates.

He spent most of 1910 with the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association, where he won the batting title and led the team to the pennant.

He was having one of his best overall seasons, leading the American League in triples and setting by large margins career marks for home runs, RBIs, and fewest strikeouts per plate appearance when he was suspended, along with seven other members of the White Sox, after allegations surfaced that the team had thrown the previous World Series.

[20] However, the Reds hit an unusually high number of triples, 3 out of 9 total, to Jackson's position in left field.

Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed Commissioner of Baseball, imposed a lifetime ban on all eight players.

"[24] After the grand jury returned its indictments, Charley Owens of the Chicago Daily News wrote a regretful tribute headlined, "Say it ain't so, Joe.

"[25] The phrase became legendary when another reporter later erroneously attributed it to a child outside the courthouse: When Jackson left the criminal court building in the custody of a sheriff after telling his story to the grand jury, he found several hundred youngsters, aged from 6 to 16, waiting for a glimpse of their idol.

He reportedly refused the $5,000 bribe twice—even though it would effectively double his salary—only to have teammate Lefty Williams toss the cash on the floor of his hotel room.

[28] Unable to afford legal counsel, Jackson was represented by team attorney Alfred Austrian—a clear conflict of interest.

[29] An article in the September 2009 issue of Chicago Lawyer magazine argued that Eliot Asinof's 1963 book Eight Men Out, purporting to confirm Jackson's guilt, was based on inaccurate information.

Further, Asinof omitted key facts from publicly available documents, such as the 1920 grand jury records and proceedings of Jackson's successful 1924 lawsuit against Comiskey to recover back pay for the 1920 and 1921 seasons.

"[31] In November 1999, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution lauding Jackson's sporting achievements and encouraging MLB to rescind his ineligibility.

During the remaining 20 years of his baseball career, Jackson played with and managed several semi-professional teams, most located in Georgia and South Carolina, under assumed names.

[37][38] A life-size statue of Jackson, created by South Carolina sculptor Doug Young, also stands in Greenville's West End.

In 2006, Jackson's original home was moved to a location adjacent to Fluor Field in downtown Greenville.

The restoration and move were chronicled on TLC's reality show The Real Deal episode "A Home Run for Trademark", which aired March 31, 2007.

However, an outpouring of support from Indians fans convinced the sports editors voting on the selections to elect him unanimously.

Eight Men Out, a film directed by John Sayles, based on the Eliot Asinof book of the same name, details the Black Sox Scandal in general and has D. B. Sweeney portraying Jackson.

The Phil Alden Robinson film Field of Dreams, based on Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella, stars Ray Liotta as Jackson.