"Shoeless" Joe Jackson endures in baseball lore as the game's tragic hero, the naive country boy who became embroiled with big-time gamblers in the infamous "Black Sox" scandal of 1919 and who was subsequently banned for life from the sport, cutting short an otherwise brilliant career.

The illiterate son of a Southern miller, Jackson grew up near Greenville, South Carolina. He acquired his famous nickname while playing baseball with the local mill teams as a teenager. Having bought a new pair of spikes, Jackson found himself with blistered feet. Desperate to play and unable to wear his old shoes due to the soreness, Jackson lumbered out to right field in stocking feet. The crowd picked up on Jackson's lack of footwear, and henceforth he became known as "Shoeless" Joe.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson

Jackson's stellar play in the mill leagues...