Hello and welcome to Issue 011 of Shoeless Notes, the email newsletter for the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library in Greenville, South Carolina.
Katie Wynn Jackson, Shoeless Joe’s wife, was born on this day in 1893 in Taylors, South Carolina. Joe and Katie were married on July 19, 1908 in Greenville. One local newspaper had this to say about their wedding:
“The popular center fielder of the local team made the greatest home run of his career on Sunday. The home run was made on Cupid’s diamond and the victory was a fair young lady. On Sunday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock Joe was married to Miss Kate Wynn.”
Joe and Katie on their wedding day, July 19, 1908 in Greenville
Katie had brown hair and brown eyes, and some education, since she could read and write. Until the day Joe died, Katie wrote his letters, managed his money, and read his contracts in and out of baseball.
Katie also signed nearly all of Joe’s autographs. If fans would write Joe a letter asking for his signature, they would usually receive a response that included a signed piece of paper, sometimes even a photo or a baseball. Joe’s named would be signed on the item, but it was Katie doing the signing, not Joe.
Even Katie’s version of Joe’s signature is collectible, since so few examples of Joe’s actual signature exist.
Joe didn’t know how to read or write, so on the occasions when Joe’s actual signature was needed, he would pull out a piece of paper from his wallet that Katie had signed “Joe Jackson” on for him. Joe would recreate Katie’s version of his signature to the best of his ability on whichever document needed signing. There are a very small number of verified Joe Jackson signatures in existence, most of which appear on legal documents such as his last will and testament, his driver’s license, and other things like that.
Joe’s last will and testament, featuring his actual signature
In addition to just signing Joe’s name, though, Katie was an integral part of the Jacksons’ business ventures. While Joe was certainly a savvy businessman, and was great at making money, he wasn’t able to keep the books without knowing how to read or write. Since Katie had received the education Joe had not, she was the one doing the accounting and book keeping, as well as helping out behind the counter.
When Joe and Katie lived in Savannah, Georgia, they had a dry-cleaning business called Savannah Valet Service. Katie worked behind the counter there and helped the business grow and succeed. At one point, they employed as many as 22 people, and were so successful that they opened a second location.
When the Jacksons returned to Greenville in 1932, they opened a barbecue restaurant and eventually Joe Jackson’s Liquor Store. Katie would help out behind the counter at the liquor store, too, which was an incredibly successful business they ran until Joe’s death in December of 1951.
Katie behind the counter at Joe Jackson’s Liquor Store in Greenville
Joe and Katie were more than just husband and wife, though they remained married until Joe’s death. They were partners. As the old saying goes, “Behind every great man, there's a great woman.” That was certainly true with Joe and Katie.
Unfortunately, this is the second consecutive newsletter in which we have to share news of a Hall of Famer’s death. Henry Aaron died earlier today, just two weeks shy of his 87th birthday. We all know “Hammerin’ Hank” as the one-time Home Run King (many still think of him that way), but he was also a Civil Rights pioneer and trailblazer.
In 1953, one year after being named Rookie Of The Year in the Northern League by batting .336 with 89 runs scored in 87 games for the Eau Claire Bears, Aaron was called up to Jacksonville to play for the Braves’ Class A affiliate. The team played in the South Atlantic League (SAL), colloquially known as the Sally League. There have been a handful of iterations of the South Atlantic League since its creation in 1903, and Shoeless Joe actually played in one when he was a member of the 1909 Savannah Indians.
Henry Aaron, still a second baseman at this point in his career, with the Jacksonville Braves.
By 1953, there still had not been a single black player to ever play in the Sally League. Until Henry Aaron. Despite enduring non-stop racial epithets and threats, Aaron led the league in runs (115), hits (208), doubles (36), RBI (115), and batting average (.362) to become the league's Most Valuable Player. One writer said, "Henry Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations.”
The Jacksonville Braves won the league championship that year with Aaron mostly playing second base. The team called him up to the majors the next year, where he played 23 seasons for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and two seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League from 1954 to 1976. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982, having hit more home runs at that point than any Major League player to ever put on a uniform. He is an all-time legend, both on and off the field, and he will be truly missed.
Each newsletter, we’re going to spotlight one new member as a token of our appreciation. This issue, we’d like to tell you a little bit about Mark Armour, who recently became a member.
New member Mark Armour keeping score at a game at Candlestick Park in 1998
Mark has been watching, playing, and studying baseball his entire life, and he still gets the greatest pleasure in going to a ballpark and watching a game, preferably with minimal distractions. But he has taken that pleasure and made a career of it, becoming a renowned baseball author, researcher, and contributor.
Mark was elected as the President of SABR’s Board of Directors in 2019. He is the founder and longtime director of SABR’s Baseball Biography Project, which is an ongoing effort to research and write a comprehensive biographical article on every person who ever played or managed in the major leagues, or otherwise made a significant contribution to the sport. Mark was the recipient of SABR’s highest honor, the Bob Davids Award, in 2008 and the Henry Chadwick Award, honoring baseball’s greatest researchers, in 2014.
Mark’s book Joe Cronin: A Life in Baseball, was a finalist for the prestigious Seymour Medal in 2011, as was In Pursuit of Pennants, which he co-wrote with Dan Levitt in 2015. Mark has written or co-written several other books and many articles for publication. In 2016, he and Chris Dial resurrected SABR’s Baseball Cards Committee.
Mark read Eliot Asinof’s Eight Men Out in the 1980s sometime, which was his introduction to the story of Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox scandal. He really liked the story, and has followed all of the advances that SABR has made researching each since then.
If he had a time machine, Mark would like to go to Greenlee Field to see the Pittsburgh Crawfords play a game. The opportunity to see Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston play in person would be incredible, and he thinks if he somehow ended up with a Josh Gibson game-used catcher’s mitt, he’d figure out a way to display it!
Mark lives in Oregon, so while he hasn’t had a chance to make it to our museum quite yet, it’s on his list and he hopes to get here soon. We hope so, too.
If you want to have a chance to be the new member we spotlight in our next newsletter, you can BECOME A MEMBER of our museum at whichever level best fits your current budget.
As always, thanks for being here. Until next time…