Auction Item Details
Lot 70
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Lot Number: 70
Description: UPDATED DESCRIPTION: Important "Shoeless" Joe Jackson Cleveland Naps player's contract dated 1915 with provision sending him to the Chicago White Sox. Original player's contract as executed between the Cleveland Naps and Joe Jackson covering his terms of employment for the 1917 and 1918 seasons. It is dated August 16, 1915 just days before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for three players and $31,500 cash. Equivalent to roughly $1,000,000 today, an enormous sum at the time, the deal represented what was then the highest dollar transaction in baseball history. The Naps clearly wanted to lock Jackson up in a long term deal thus increasing their bargaining power with Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. It would prove to be one of the most consequential transactions in the history of 20th Century baseball. Jackson was one of the games greatest stars and most productive hitters. His addition to an already potent White Sox lineup assured that the team was a powerful force in the American League and by 1917 he helped lead them to a World Series Championship. They would again top the American League in 1919 and face the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. It was to be one of the darkest moments in the history of the game; Shoeless Joe and (7) teammates conspired with representatives of gambler Arnold Rothstein to throw the Series. Despite recording (12) base hits (a World Series record not broken until 1964), leading both teams in average (.375), and committing no charged errors, Jackson had accepted $5,000 for his part in "The Fix" and was later banned from baseball for life by Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis. The events have become the stuff of legend and Jackson serves as the central figure. The ban cut short what would categorically have been one the greatest careers of the dead ball era. Contract is dated August 16, 1915 however was an extension of previous agreements and specifically intended to cover the 1917 and 1918 seasons. It is signed on behalf of Cleveland by then team owner Charles Somers. A secretarial signature of Joe Jackson appears below, consistent with the long standing knowledge that he was functionally illiterate and rarely signed on his own behalf. An addition secretarial signature is below a typed note which reads "Joseph Jackson...hereby agrees to the assignment of the above contract from the Cleveland Ball Club Company to the American League Baseball Club of Chicago..." Ban Johnson, then President of the American League, has signed the back. There are typical fold lines with some mild handling wear throughout along with a hint of toning/discoloration. An immensely important document related to one of the great careers in early baseball and a figure who would ultimately prove to be one its' most polarizing figures. Includes auction LOA from JSA (related to Somers AND JOHNSON signatures): VG-EXEstimated Price Range: ($25,000-$50,000)
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