Vintage baseball card collectors have had a hard time securing a piece of history to own a vintage card for “Shoeless Joe” Jackson. Sports cards investors may be one of the reasons that his vintage cards are pricey and hard to find. Another issue is that die-hard collectors simply don’t want to part ways with their Shoeless Joe Jackson cards once they finally get one. Most importantly, and perhaps the most difficult to overcome, is that there just are not that many vintage era cards of Shoeless Joe Jackson for collectors to go out and buy.

The sad reality in the modern era is that it is fair to ask whether Shoeless Joe Jackson is becoming too expensive and difficult to collect. It would be impossible to list all of the Shoeless Joe Jackson items and cards that have sold in recent years, but Collectors Dashboard wants to show a representation about how and why it is so hard to collect his vintage cards and memorabilia.

Jackson is considered to be one of the top pure hitters of all-time in the majors. His swing was pure enough that Babe Ruth was even said to have modeled his swing after Jackson. While it unknown what his career batting average would have been had he played out a full career into the 1920s, Jackson’s .356 lifetime batting average is among MLB’s highest. Jackson was also a strong defensive player and was quick on his feet.

Baseball card collectors have a fascination with the Black Sox scandal. Most collectors feel that Jackson was overly punished for his permanent exile from baseball. While it is on the record, there was little or no proof that Jackson did anything to assist the sports betting thugs who were behind fixing the World Series. He had a very strong performance in the series and made no obvious gaffes.

Jackson’s pre-baseball background also makes his the epitome of what was happening to kids around the turn of the 1900s. The nation was growing rapidly and there were very few laws protecting kids like there are today. He began working in textile mills as an adolescent rather than spending all of his time in school like modern day youngsters. Baseball was a sport where he excelled, and that was his ticket out from being just another child laborer whose potential was lost to history. Even as an adult, Jackson hadn’t learned to read or write.

A MEMORABLE CAREER CUT SHORT

Jackson’s “Shoeless Joe” nickname came from the Carolina Association semi-pro league after playing a game barefoot. It wasn’t a money issue as much as it was that his baseball shoes were uncomfortable and causing a blister. He played for the Philadelphia (American) and the Carolina league, with only a few major league games in 1908 and 1909. His contract was sold to the Cleveland Naps toward the end of the 2010 season, where he began to blossom. The year of 1911 was his first full year up in the majors, which explains why there is no T206 nor T205 card for Shoeless Joe Jackson — cards that would be highly desirable by collectors and investors some 110 years later.

While the Ted Williams .406 batting average is impressive and the last to see a .400 season (since 1941), Jackson belted hits with a .408 average in his first full season in 1911. That was followed by averages of .395 and .373 the following two years.

1915 was a year of change for Joe Jackson. He batted just .272 for the White Sox in 1915, but played the first 83 games of the year with Cleveland and his average was .327 there. For the 1915 season as a whole, he still finished with an impressive .308 batting average. Jackson made up up his sub-.300 White Sox hitting in 2015 with batting averages as follows: .341 (1916); .301 (1917); .354 (1918); .351 (1919); and .382 (1920).

(Update – Our original note said that Jackson’s batting average of .272 in 1915 was the only sub-.300 year in his entire full-time career, but this was only for that half of the season with the White Sox).

The great and mighty Babe Ruth said that he modeled his swing after Joe Jackson’s swing. And Ted Williams had noted how the Red Sox would sometimes stop Greenville, South Carolina (Jackson’s home town) and he never knew that was where Jackson lived. Williams later said: “Oh, how I wish I had known that and could have stopped in to talk hitting with that man.”

When Cleveland sold his contract to Chicago it had been the highest paid contract buyout at the time in baseball. There is a reason as his lifetime career batting average of .356 is considered the third highest in MLB history.

Jackson is believed to have refused the $5,000 bribe twice before the cash was thrown into his hotel room. He had even tried to tell White Sox owner Charles Comiskey about the fix, but the owner did not meet with Jackson. The other 7 team members later on confirmed that Jackson wasn’t present at any of the “fix” meetings.

Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned Shoeless Joe for life from baseball after the 1919 Black Sox scandal. While he did go play and manage several semi-pro teams, the damage had been done and his status to be eligible for the Hall of Fame has never been overturned despite multiple efforts. The movie Eight Men Out captures only a part of the scandal’s impact on Jackson’s life. The Field of Dreams movie also muted what could have been a much more “Shoeless Joe” focus despite Ray Liotta’s heavy screen time on that film.

THE MOST DESIRABLE SHOELESS JOE BASEBALL CARDS

There are two different card issues which came out within a short period of time that should compete for the rookie card status. The 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1 is the first card because of the first year for the set being 1909, but this was very early on and shows Jackson drawn and labeled as Philadelphia (American) despite hardly playing many games while being prepped in the minors. The 1910 Old Mill T210 (Series 8) is the second card that count as a rookie or a pre-rookie card and it is even harder to come by as he is labeled as being on the New Orleans team.

Joe Jackson’s 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1 is in one of the most popular sets of the era, The card was issued in hard caramel candy packages rather than tobacco as so many other cards were in that day. Unlike many other sets using the exact same artwork, this one stayed on the caramel card only and did not find its way on to tobacco sets. The E90-1 set is filled up with baseball’s greatest players of the era and Jackson’s card is the most sought after of the set.

The 2002 book The Top 200 Sportscards in the Hobby noted that the E90-1 had only a handful of Jackson cards available and said that the card was his most valuable at that time. That is not quite true any longer because there are now 95 known PSA graded examples and there are 79 graded SGC examples. The set has limited numbers of high grades, with only two PSA 8 and one SGC 7 as the highest grades. One blemish about this card, despite an attractive overall appearance against a soothing purple background, is that every drawing looks smudged over his nose because of a lack of detail.

For the E90-1, a PSA 8 example did fetch $667,189 in 2019 via SCP Auctions. Heritage sold a PSA 5 example for $143,400 in August 2016 and also a SGC 60/5 for $66,000 in August 2017. (Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions) Other recent recorded high value sales in 2021 were as follows:

• $11,100 in July 2021 for PSA “A” via Robert Edward Auctions
• $20,000 in July 2021 for a PSA 2(MK) via Robert Edward Auctions
• $31,200 for a PSA 1.5 in April 2021 via Robert Edward Auctions
• $31,200 for a PSA 2 in may 2020 via Heritage Auctions

The 1910 Old Mill T210 (Series 8) is from the Southern Association at the time. This red-bordered card easily shows off any dings, blemishes and corner damage. It was covering Jackson’s short time on the minor league New Orleans Pelicans. Here is how rare the card is — PSA only has 9 graded examples, and the highest non-qualified grade is a PSA 3.5; and SGC’s total graded population shows two listings for Joe Jackson with the first as 6 examples and the second as 2 examples. (Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions)

As for how richly priced these T210 Joe Jackson cards have become, a Heritage Auctions sale from February of 2019 fetched $600,000.00 for that one PSA 3.5 grade. That same grade had sold for $199,750.00 in a January 2011 auction via Robert Edward Auctions. Even an altered “Authentic” grade fetched $56,028 in 2015 via Goodwin Auctions, and the same year saw a PSA 2 sale of $83,650 via Heritage Auctions. A 1910 Old Mill Series 8 Shoeless Joe Jackson SGC 3 recently sold through Heritage Auctions along with a massive Ty Cobb auction for $540,000.

Then there are the prized Cracker Jack baseball cards from 1914 and 1915. These two card sets are among the most desirable and sought after sets of the entire early 1900s for collectors. The fronts of the cards are identical with the Cleveland uniforms and the bright red backgrounds. That candy popcorn wasn’t know for leaving these cards as bright over time. Poor storage also played a role, but the cards have shot risen handily in recent years with collectors and investors holding on tight.

Here is some data on each 1914/1915 Cracker Jack card of Joe Jackson:

• Cracker Jack’s 1914 set has only 42 graded examples by PSA and only 23 graded examples by SGC. In 2021, a PSA 5 sold for $116,400 and a PSA 4 sold for $101,589.60. A PSA 6 sold for $157,200.
• Cracker Jack’s 1915 set has 117 graded examples by PSA, followed by 68 graded examples by SGC before 2 with surface ink added. Even a PSA 2.5 fetched $40,000 in March 2021 and a 202 PSA 6 sold for $48.750.

RARITIES & AUTOGRAPHS

Other rarities in the hobby are the 1914 Texas Tommy cards and the E&S postcards. Many people mailed the old postcards and index cards for him to sign, but the bulk of these were signed by his wife. This makes his status as an illiterate also more difficult for collectors to have anything resembling genuine Joe Jackson signatures, even if some do exist.

The Type 1 issue from the rare Texas Tommy has only 2 PSA-graded examples of this card that had been produced in California. A PSA 2.5 sold for $128,617.00 in August 2020 via SCP Auctions, which was considered part of the “Yahtzee! find” after being found with early twentieth century cards in a Yahtzee box.

An extremely rare 1914 Boston Garter Joe Jackson SGC 70 EX+ 5.5 sold for $480,000 in 2019 via Heritage Auctions. There are only a handful of the “Boston Garter” cards that exist in the combined SGC and PSA population reports.

The E & S Publishing postcards have only 3 PSA graded examples, with the SGC population report showing only 1 single graded example at SGC 4. A PSA 4.5 example sold for $28,800 in May 2021 via Heritage Auctions.

Joe Jackson could barely write out his name in a signature for contracts and occasional signatures. That said, it was not an easy task at all for the mostly illiterate man after a lack of formal education.

Some collectors have moved on to other “Shoeless Joe” memorabilia. Goldin Auctions has previously sold a “Shoeless” Joe Jackson signed South Carolina Driver’s License with a rare signature and it fetched $122,400.00. In 2019, Goldin also sold a personal business card for Joe Jackson’s Liquor Store with a vintage photo with a family letter of provenance that fetched $3,900.00.

Heritage Auctions has had some key sales of Jackson provenance. A game-used rookie year bat sold for $956,000 back in 2014 and two very weak looking child-like signed Joe Jackson auto baseballs sold for $240,000 (with Buck Weaver from 1920) and for $171,478.80 in 2017. A signed Joe Jackson photo from the well reported Frank W. Smith Collection sold for $179,250.00 in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions)

THE BLACK & WHITE BATTING POSE CARDS

There are several sets issued from 1915 to 1917 that have the same pose with Shoeless Joe having committed and followed-through on a full swing of his bat. These are the following, with some data provided, and some with blank backs and some with the proper back printed:

• 1915 W-UNC Strip Cards is a hand cut card with only 2 PSA-graded examples. No recent sales data had been recorded.
• Joe Jackson’s 1915/16 M101-4 Sporting News has a printed back with 21 graded examples and a blank back with 19 graded examples. The regular back saw a PSA 8 example sell for $43,200 in 2020 and a PSA 7 example sell for $18,600 in 2019. Its blank back sales have fetched $17,755 in March 2021 for a PSA 2.5 after the same exact card’s PSA serial number sold for $7,050.00 in 2020.
• Joe Jackson’s 1915/16 M101-5 Sporting News is more rare with only 6 PSA regular back examples and 11 graded examples for the blank backs. The most recent sales were in 2020 for PSA blank backs of this series at $15,000 for a PSA 6, $8,400 for a PSA 4 and $10,000 for a PSA 5.
• 1916 Famous & Barr Co. has just 5 examples graded by PSA. A PSA 6 example sold for $24,600 in 2020 via Robert Edward Auctions, and the same exact serial number for the same PSA 6 card sold for $15,000 in 2019 via Heritage Auctions.
• 1916 Indianapolis Brewing Co. has only 2 graded PSA examples of this card, and two PSA 4 sales more than a decade ago sold for less than $6,000 each (one at $5,875 in 2010 and one for $5,533 in 2009).

There are also two additional cards that are identical despite being so many years apart. These both feature Jackson in the Black uniforms with the White Sox for Chicago. Some population and sales data are as follows:

• 1917 Collins-McCarthy (E135) has 8 PSA examples for the regular back and 4 graded examples for the blank back. For the regular back example, one PSA 2 sold for $19,200 in 2021 and one PSA 4 sold for $22,400 in 2020.
• 1921 Holsum Bread shows up as an example but there is limited data on the card for Joe Jackson. The SGC population report showed just one graded example at SGC 2.5.

THE 1940 PLAY BALL SHOELESS JOE “RETRO” CARD

It seems hard to imagine that cards could go “retro” back in 1940 since it wasn’t even up to World War 2 yet. Jackson would have been about 53 years old at that time, and the retro card has two variations. SGC’s population reports show 126 regular graded examples and 24 with the Superman backs that were seen. PSA counts 374 graded examples of this card. Despite the larger population and despite this being a retro card, the prices of these cards are still higher than many of the existing superstar player cards of that era.

Joe Orlando’s 2002 book The Top 200 Sportscards in the Hobby counted the 1940 Play Ball in its ranks. If that book were republished today that might not be as historically important due to other card variations. Still, the reason was sound – it was an attainable card with a larger graded population that could be found.

One serious issue to consider is eye appeal for this 1940 Play Ball set. The base photos may have been visually stunning after being converted to color artwork the 1941 Play Ball set, but the black and white photos all seem to be dull, low quality and some would argue just ugly. The entire set has rather small white borders that make centering look even worse when off-center, and the toning of the photos is very low quality.

Here are some of the 2021 sales that have been seen by grade:

• $19,800.00 for a PSA 8 on May 10 through Heritage Auctions
• $6,242.00 for a PSA 7 on June 14, 2021 on eBay
• $4,920.00 for a PSA 6 on June 29, 2021 via Goldin Auctions
• $4,680.00 for a PSA 5 on May 17, 2021 on eBay
• $3,075.00 for a PSA 4 via Goldin Auctions on June 29, 2021

SOME “MORE AFFORDABLE” JACKSON CARDS

There is a Joe Jackson hand cut strip card from the 1919 to 1921 W514 Hand Cut set. The image is atrocious like all the cards from that set and PSA only counts 68 graded examples of this card. All of the recent sales are graded “Authentic” due to the hand cut conditions, and since 2017 the few recorded sales of PSA examples ranged from $1,500 to $2,800 in auctions.

The only other so-called “cheap” options to buy Joe Jackson cards in good condition for acceptable prices are in the card-game cards. These would look like a playing deck card but instead of for poker or blackjack the card games were for the 1913 National Game and the 1913 Tom Barker Game. A third game card was rather different in appearance via the 1914 Polo Grounds Game. There are about 150 or so of these combined in PSA’s population reports (data not reviewed for SGC graded populations), but as game cards they are not as desirable for collectors even though the ticker paper stock preserved many examples at stronger grades.

While the sports cards and rarities are all very expensive, Heritage Auctions has sold many items that belonged to Shoeless Joe or which covered his life when he was alive. These might be more affordable if they become available again.

LOOKING AHEAD

“Shoeless Joe” Jackson have never exactly been cheap to collect relative to other vintage baseball cards. It is unknown whether or not any current or future commissioners and the Hall of Fame will allow Shoeless Joe to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. His work would undoubtedly have landed him a larger place in baseball history had he not been kicked out of the major leagues.

As you can see, collecting Shoeless Joe Jackson is not exactly a cheap endeavor. Even his cheaper cards have high buy-in prices. And that “retro” card is priced much higher than other retro cards that were issued in later years of other key baseball players. Now it is perhaps becoming more obvious why these cards just do not come up for auction that much — even if you get to sell a Shoeless Joe Jackson card for two or three times what you paid for the card it’s just very difficult to replace.

Even if it costs you too much to buy a vintage card or piece of vintage Shoeless Joe memorabilia, there is one thing that collectors and fans can do. You can always visit the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library in Greenville, South Carolina. The 5 bedroom house is where he lived and died, and it is now located across the street from the local Fluor Field. The Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) has even written about changing perceptions about one of baseball’s greatest hitters.

(Autograph image courtesy of Heritage Auctions)