Babe Ruth 100th Anniversary Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/19/2014
He played his first organized men’s baseball game for his father’s South Carolina textile mill team at the tender age of 13…and became the best player in the league. Pretty soon Jackson was tearing it up for the Greenville team in the newly formed Carolina Association, where his contract was eventually bought by Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics. However, Jackson became homesick and wore out his welcome with Mack, who traded him in 1910 to the Cleveland Naps. Jackson was sent to New Orleans of the Southern Association in 1910, where he won the batting title and was brought back up to the major leagues later that season where he performed very well. The following year Jackson hit .408 as a rookie, with 233 hits. It was around this time, either when Jackson was called up in late 1910 or during his tremendous 1911 season is when this original studio photo was issued.
The posed 5 x 8 inch image depicts Jackson in his ever present bow tie, jacket and neatly parted hair. His eyes, haircut and darkened cheeks are very similar to other images we researched which are also from the 1910-11 time periods. The reverse has an original caption reading, “Joe Jackson, who could neither read nor write when he joined Cleveland,” with his name written in pencil and the markings “1 col. Friday” likely indicating time and space for the newspaper. There are few light creases, mainly relegated to the corners, with an appearance of some period retouching to the lower left corner. This is a very early and scarce Joe Jackson image from his first seasons in Cleveland, when he tore up the American League as a rookie in 1911. PSA/DNA certified as Type I (1P02470).
This lot has a Reserve Price that has not been met.