Jul 8, 2026 · 1 hr 26 min · 9 segments
On this special bonus episode, Dan Wallach discusses Shoeless Joe Jackson's complicated history with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Joe's path to possibly receiving a plaque in the future…
Dan WallachHost
Tom BowlingGuest
Elizabeth YellisGuest
So if it's not gonna be that, what is it going to be? I'm going to attempt to answer a question I have been asked genuinely more than a thousand times in my life.
Does Shoeless Joe Jackson belong in the Hall of Fame, and do you think he'll ever get in? At the end of the episode, I'll play an excerpt from an interview I conducted on December seventh, twenty twenty-one with a young woman who was neighbors with Joe and Katie Jackson in Greenville, South Carolina in the nineteen forties.
She tells the incredible story of how one Sunday in nineteen forty two, Joe Jackson saved her life.
[instrumental music] Despite my employment from twenty nineteen through twenty twenty two with an organization that bears Joe Jackson's name and a personal association with the museum that dates back to two thousand nine, I have never pleaded, and I will never plead Joe Jackson's case for the Hall of Fame.
Frank Navin was the president and owner of the Detroit Tigers from nineteen oh eight to nineteen thirty five.
In a February nineteen twenty nine article in Baseball Magazine, Navin is quoted as saying, "In the matter of sheer natural ability, I believe Joe Jackson surpassed every outfielder that ever came to the major leagues." Every outfielder, he said.
That means Navin placed Joe Jackson ahead of American League Hall of Famers like Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, Elmer Flick, Wahoo Sam Crawford, Goose Goslin, Harry Heilmann, Sam Rice, and Al Simmons.
He put Joe ahead of Babe Ruth, and he even put Joe ahead of his own superstar, Ty Cobb, who was widely considered the greatest player who ever lived at that point.
And remember, those are just the outfielders from the American League that Navin would have seen with his own two eyes.
But I'm sure in some capacity he was at the very least aware of the best National League outfielders from that era too.
Players like Zach Wheat, Fred Clarke, Max Carey, Ed Roush, Hack Wilson, Paul Waner, and Sherry Magee.
That nineteen twenty nine Baseball Magazine article was written by George Moriarty, a former player turned umpire who spent forty years in baseball.
He sprinted over the outfield territory with ease and grace in long strides and rivaled Bob Meusel as a thrower.
Mister Joe was a dead catch on flies." Now, those are great things to hear, but maybe a quote from a better player would be more impressive to you, because I'm sure most of you haven't heard of George Moriarty.
So if it's not gonna be that, what is it going to be? I'm going to attempt to answer a question I have been asked genuinely more than a thousand times in my life.
Does Shoeless Joe Jackson belong in the Hall of Fame, and do you think he'll ever get in? At the end of the episode, I'll play an excerpt from an interview I conducted on December seventh, twenty twenty-one with a young woman who was neighbors with Joe and Katie Jackson in Greenville, South Carolina in the nineteen forties.
She tells the incredible story of how one Sunday in nineteen forty two, Joe Jackson saved her life.
[instrumental music] Despite my employment from twenty nineteen through twenty twenty two with an organization that bears Joe Jackson's name and a personal association with the museum that dates back to two thousand nine, I have never pleaded, and I will never plead Joe Jackson's case for the Hall of Fame.
Frank Navin was the president and owner of the Detroit Tigers from nineteen oh eight to nineteen thirty five.
In a February nineteen twenty nine article in Baseball Magazine, Navin is quoted as saying, "In the matter of sheer natural ability, I believe Joe Jackson surpassed every outfielder that ever came to the major leagues." Every outfielder, he said.
That means Navin placed Joe Jackson ahead of American League Hall of Famers like Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, Elmer Flick, Wahoo Sam Crawford, Goose Goslin, Harry Heilmann, Sam Rice, and Al Simmons.
He put Joe ahead of Babe Ruth, and he even put Joe ahead of his own superstar, Ty Cobb, who was widely considered the greatest player who ever lived at that point.
And remember, those are just the outfielders from the American League that Navin would have seen with his own two eyes.
But I'm sure in some capacity he was at the very least aware of the best National League outfielders from that era too.
Players like Zach Wheat, Fred Clarke, Max Carey, Ed Roush, Hack Wilson, Paul Waner, and Sherry Magee.
That nineteen twenty nine Baseball Magazine article was written by George Moriarty, a former player turned umpire who spent forty years in baseball.
He sprinted over the outfield territory with ease and grace in long strides and rivaled Bob Meusel as a thrower.
Mister Joe was a dead catch on flies." Now, those are great things to hear, but maybe a quote from a better player would be more impressive to you, because I'm sure most of you haven't heard of George Moriarty.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.