His pants revealed the hard climb to the top; stained with the dirt of who knows how many base paths. His special stars and stripes jersey, worn only during this season, bore the acknowledgement that less fortunate men were being wounded and dying on battlefields in Europe. His modest glove was tucked in his back pocket, ready for use at the moment the 1917 World Series would begin.
First, though, there were photographs to take and Joe Jackson struck a confident pose. He had every reason to be optimistic about the outcome. His Chicago White Sox had been a regular season juggernaut, winning 100 games and losing only 54. Little did he know the team’s 1917 win total would still be the most in franchise history when the 2017 season ended.
The 2 ¾” x 7 ¼” image of Shoeless Joe posing before the start of the World Series 100 seasons ago is the RMY Auctions Photo of the Day.
Cropped by a newspaper photo editor at some point to showcase Jackson alone, the photo bears the stamp of legendary photographer Paul Thompson on the back. Bidding has already topped $1,000 with the auction of over 1,200 lots set to run through Saturday, March 10.
Jackson hit .301 for the Sox in ’17, driving in 75 runs for the pennant winning club that would dispatch the Giants in six games. A few years later, Jackson’s baseball career was over in the wake of the 1919 gambling scandal and rumors then circulated that some of the Giants may not have been giving their all in 1917. It would be the last White Sox World Series championship until 2005.
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