November 1919 Baseball Magazine

Published in the immediate aftermath of the 1919 World Series, before the fix became public. The cover bills it as the "World's Series Number." Inside are Charles Conlon photographs of the players, including the same Jackson image used on his W514 strip card.

Issue: Baseball Magazine
Year: 1919
Subject: "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
Grade: Raw (ungraded)

Why the issue matters

Baseball Magazine

Founded in Boston in 1908 by sportswriter Jacob Morse, Baseball Magazine was the first monthly baseball magazine in the United States. Under F. C. Lane, editor from 1912 to 1937, it became the thoughtful long-form voice of the game, with painted covers by artists such as Gerrit Beneker and J. F. Kernan. A cover was a mark of stardom, which is what makes a Jackson cover such a good piece of period evidence.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson

A South Carolina mill-town hitter with almost no schooling, Jackson became one of the purest hitters the game has ever seen: a .408 average in his first full season with Cleveland in 1911 and a .356 career mark, among the highest ever. Babe Ruth later said he had copied Jackson's style because he thought Jackson the greatest natural hitter he had ever seen — a widely repeated attribution, even as historians still argue how literally Ruth meant it. Jackson hit .375 and played errorless ball in the 1919 World Series, yet admitted to a grand jury in 1920 that he had taken gamblers' money. Acquitted by a Chicago jury in 1921, he was banned for life by Commissioner Landis anyway. The unresolved question of how guilty he really was is the reason this collection exists.