Banned no more, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson has huge fans in his hometown

"Honestly, I was shocked when I saw the news," said Lester Erwin, a distant relative of Jackson. "My stepson texted me the article, and when I opened it, I just stared at it in disbelief." 

Erwin, 79, and Mike Nola, 67, a historian at the Jackson museum, had pushed for Shoeless Joe's reinstatement for decades. Erwin serves on the advisory board of the museum, located in a one-story, circa-1940s bungalow where Jackson lived (along with his wife, Katie) for the last 10 years of his life.

The Jackson museum features research, displays, photos, books and artifacts about the man who was the central figure in the infamous "Black Sox" scandal. 

In 1919, MLB accused Jackson —  who was born in Pickens County, South Carolina — and seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates with accepting money from gamblers and intentionally throwing the World Series against Cincinnati. Jackson had 12 hits, a Series-leading .375 batting average and didn’t commit an error against the Reds, who won the eight-game series 5-3. 

All eight of the accused were acquitted in a trial, but MLB commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned them from the sport in 1920. Years later, Jackson’s banned teammates said he never attended any of their meetings with gamblers.

Erwin's interest in Jackson's story started at a young age, when he would tag along on trips to see family in Greenville and spend time with the former baseball star.

"I did the same thing every time I visited him," Erwin said. "I would always play an imaginary baseball game out in the yard while Joe and my dad talked.

"I always used Joe's leg or foot to slide into as an imaginary base and my dad would always chastise me for it," Erwin continued. "Joe always told him the same thing, saying to leave me alone and that I wasn't bothering a thing."

Before the announcement by Manfred, Nola had heard rumblings of a decision potentially being made on the reinstatement of Rose, who died Sept. 30, 2024, but nothing on the player he has dedicated more than half his life to.

"I was on the phone all day with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal," Nola said. "He called me early Tuesday morning and told me it was a possibility that by that afternoon, Manfred could clear Rose, but nobody ever thought he would clean the whole list off."

Jackson, who played 13 years in the big leagues, has Hall of Fame-worthy statistics. His career batting average is .356, behind only Rogers Hornsby (.358) and Ty Cobb (.366). An outfielder, Jackson led the majors in hits twice and finished second in the MVP voting in 1913.

The logical next step for Jackson fans would be his election to the Hall of Fame, but that's not supremely important to Erwin. 

"That would just be icing on the cake now," he said. "From the beginning, we have always worked just to get his name cleared."

Over the years, Nola and Erwin wrote letters to MLB advocating for Jackson to be reinstated. The decision whether to put Jackson on a Hall of Fame ballot now rests with the MLB's Classic Era Committee. It will ultimately determine whether Jackson joins the game's greatest players in Cooperstown, New York.

"Now we want more, now we want him in the Hall of Fame," Nola said. "We have that first taste of relief after the reinstatement and now we want even more."

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.