in full Joseph Jefferson Jackson known as Shoeless Joe Jackson
born July 16, 1888, Greenville, S.C., U.S.
died Dec. 6, 1951, Greenville
U.S. baseball player.
Jackson started his career in 1908 and became an outfielder with the Chicago White Sox. An outstanding hitter, his career batting average of .356 is the third-highest (after Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby ) in baseball history. Jackson was involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal ; though acquitted in 1921, he was banned from baseball for life by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis .