2019 Summer Premium Live and Catalog Auction Lots 1-82 Close Aug 1- 83-end close 8/10

Lot #23: Shoeless Joe Jackson Personal Business Card For Joe Jackson's Liquor Store With Vintage Photo (Family Letter of Provenance)

Description

When Shoeless Joe Jackson was exiled from organized baseball in 1921, the White Sox slugger became a bat-for-hire mercenary, playing under assumed names for any team that would pay his price. After a few years, Jackson tired of the constant traveling and settled down in Savannah, Georgia where he operated a dry-cleaning business with his beloved wife Katie. In the 1930’s Jackson and his wife moved to Greenville, South Carolina, the town where he began his professional career and earned his iconic nickname of “Shoeless Joe.”

Joe and Katie first ran a barbeque restaurant, then opened “Joe Jackson’s Liquor Store.” Located on Pendleton Street, Jackson ran this store for the remainder of his life. It was here that one of the more poignant stories about Shoeless Joe took place. Sometime before Jackson’s death in 1951, Ty Cobb and sportswriter Grantland Rice were passing through Greenville. Cobb and Rice stopped in Jackson’s liquor store and Cobb was surprised that Joe did not seem to recognize him, though both men had known each other intimately during their playing days. Finally, Cobb asked, “Don’t you know me, Joe?” to which Jackson replied "Sure, I know you, Ty, but I wasn't sure you wanted to know me. A lot of them don't." This interaction between two of the game’s greatest hitters has gone down in baseball lore as the apocryphal climax of Joe Jackson’s sad fate after his banishment from the game.

This offered business card is a visual link to Shoeless Joe’s years of exile, handed out by the old ballplayer to advertise his store. Measuring 2 x 3 ½ inches, the card is printed in blue ink and proudly proclaims “Joe Jackson, Sole Owner” under a humorous cartoon illustration. The card shows toning from age along with edge wear and softened corners. There is a horizontal and a corner crease along with slight smudge marks, but the card displays well and is a seldom seen artifact from Joe Jackson’s post-Black Sox scandal days. A 6 ½ x 8 ½-inch wire photo of Jackson manning the cash register in his liquor store accompanies the card. The photo carries several back stamps and handwritten notations and carries dates of 1939 and 1949. There are only two of these cards that are known to exist and this very card is the one that was with Jackson's personal possessions at the time of his death. The card comes with a signed letter of provenance from Lester Irwin of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Society attesting to its origin from the Jackson family .

Final Bid (Includes Buyers Premium):$3,900
Minimum Bid:$1,500
Number of Bids:14