Sorry But No Joe In The Hall

Over the years people in and outside of baseball have called for Joe Jackson to be removed from the ineligible list. Shoeless Joe was given a lifetime ban from then-MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis in 1921 along with seven other players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox team after reportedly taking bribes to throw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Even though there was no proof that he had taken any money, this was even supported by the players who did take the bribes, nor did he intentionally muff any plays during the Series he was still grouped in with the rest due to having "knowledge" of the illegal bribes.

 

When Rob Manfred took over the MLB Commissioner position in January the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in South Carolina sent a number of requests asking that the new Commissioner reconsider now that it has been 94 years since the ban was imposed and 63 years since Jackson died. Apparently the Commissioner did take the situation in to consideration but ultimately decided to decline the request in an announcement finally released this morning by the museum.

Had Shoeless Joe been removed from the ineligible list it is almost certain that he would have been inducted in to the MLB Hall of Fame not to mention the windfall that Topps would have received from being able to include him in official MLB releases.

Even though he has been banned from the MLB meaning he can not appear in an MLB official card set there are plenty of Joe Jackson cards for collectors. Panini included him in the Diamond Kings, Golden Age, Classics and National Treasures releases. Donruss, Conlon and Pacific included him on a couple of releases between the mid-1990s and 2008 and there are plenty of Upper Deck options to choose from too. His bat relic cards start around $75 while his pre-war vintage cards are going to top $350 all the way up in to the thousands.

Another Commisioner, Another Chance

Pete Rose has once again petitioned to be re-instated in to MLB. Since his initial ban by then Commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989 he has made an appeal with each new MLB Commissioner, being denied by both Fay Vincent and Bud Selig.

Pete Rose, had he not been banned, would have been a first ballot selection following a career that included 17 All-Star appearances, three World Series titles, the 1973 MVP Award plus records for most hits (4,256) and games played (3,562). After being pegged for gambling on the game while manager of the Reds he agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 but after 25 years some people have begun to sway their belief to maybe he has served his time.

In 1989 I was a firm believer that when banned he should remain banned for life and his 2004 book “My Prison Without Walls” only strengthened my feelings towards his ban when he finally admitted to gambling, 15 years after being banned. I felt that maybe if he had admitted his gambling in the beginning a suspension would have been fair but with the lying and finally telling the truth in a book to make money the ban should remain in effect.

Manfred has agreed to remain unbiased and will consider the appeal as well as review the Dowd Report and read through Giamatti’s decision to make sure that everything is known as agreed upon by both Giamatti and Rose before making a decision, which I feel is very fair.

 

If Rose is reinstated, which would mean he would almost certainly appear on the next HOF ballot, does his value increase?

What is your take on the Rose situation?

 

 

Personally I would rather see Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver reinstated first. While Jackson initially admitting to taking money it was later shown that he had not taken any money, he did not attend any of the meetings and he never spoke with any of the gambler. In 1999 the U.S. government did an investigation and found he was innocent and urged the MLB to reinstate him. Weaver isn’t a potential Hall of Famer but was banned for simply knowing of the other players involved in throwing the games, a rule that wouldn’t go in to effect for 2 years after he was banned.

 Also to support removing Jackson & Weaver’s bans was a situation in 1926 when MLB players Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker and former-MLB players Dutch Leonard and Smoky Joe Wood were cleared by Landis after admitting to betting on the 1919 World Series after they found out about the games being fixed. Cobb and Speaker were forced to “retire” following the 1926 season but none were banned. How can Cobb and Speaker both be Hall of Famers when they both knew about the fix of the 1919 World Series and even bet on the games while Weaver and Jackson, who didn’t take money or bet and played well during the Series, are banned?

 

Early Preview: 2012 Panini Golden Age Baseball

One of Panini’s upcoming products is the 2012 Golden Age Baseball release, set for a late November release date. Each 24 pack box (6 cards/pack) should run in the $70-75 range and will include an interesting collection of baseball related cards along with historical related cards.

 

The set consists of 150 base cards (there are 25 SP variation cards), 150 mini parallel versions (two different colored backs), 50 Historical Signatures, 50 Museum Age memorabilia cards and a Triple Crown Winners signature card. The Historical Signature autograph cards will have cut signatures from deceased personalities and sticker autographs for living personalities. The preview images show the cards as hard signed but with the white mist at the bottom where the auto goes leads me to believe it will contain a sticker.

 

Box Break:

1 Historic Signature
1 Museum Age relic card
24 Mini Parallels
2 Headlines
2 Batter-Up
1 Newark Evening World Supplement
1 Box Topper (Either a Ferguson Bakery Pennant or a 5x7 Movie Poster)

Mini Parallel

This set was created with the intent of offering up a historical view at baseball and Popular Culture and with a low price-point Panini will probably sell through pretty easily. I know that there are collectors who do not care for this type of mixed product but personally I get a kick out of stuff like this because of the history connection.

 

On the down side I am not a fan of the design and I do not like the use of gold/tan coloring. I know it plays on a sepia type coloring, which is often used to generate feelings of vintage and historical, but the color and design elements do not appeal to me. The base card is depicted above with the Loch Ness Monster.

 

Some of the highlights of the product:

Autographs and memorabilia from the past 100 years from both sports and non-sports personalities

 

 

 

Headlines: These cards cover various headlines from major historical events

 

Batter Up: Pop-up cards based on the 1934-36 Batter Up cards

Original 1934-36 Batters-Up Charles Gehringer card for example

 

Newark Evening World Supplement: Cards based on the original 1907 Newark Evening World Supplements set, though significantly smaller than the original 7.5x11 sized cards. The originals were included in the Newark Evening World newspaper, any of the original 15 card in the set are nearly impossible to find

Original 1907 Newark Evening World Supplement cards for example

 

Box Topper: The box topper will be either a

Ferguson Bakery Pennant (miniature version)

Or

5x7 Movie Posters

 

 

The 1916 Ferguson Bakery Pennants were a 2.5x5.75 felt pennant that contained a picture of either a baseball player or a war hero. The Allied Hero versions contained a black and white photo of the hero along with “Allied Heroes” across the pennant while the baseball player versions had the player picture along with their name and team name across the pennant.

Original 1916 Ferguson Bakery Pennants for example

 

 

The movie posters are based on reprints of original Golden Age cinema. Some of the posters will even contain a relic from an actor/actress in the movie depicted.

 

Buybacks: Each case will include 1 Buyback card from the 1930s or 1940s and according to Panini’s sales materials this includes Goudey Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig cards

 

Black Sox Bats: A Joe Jackson bat relic card, I am not certain how many of his bat cards will be printed. Additionally, while some of their sales materials only show a Joe Jackson card they have posted on their web site “…and memorabilia cards featuring the infamous 1919 Black Sox” so I am wondering if there are other players from the team.

 

 Triple Card Winners Autograph: A hard signed triple-autograph card from three living Triple Crown jockeys

 

Even though I do not care for the elements of the card design I still expect to pick up some packs to get a hands on review, who knows, maybe once the cards are in my hand I may feel differently. It is also hard to argue with what you will pull from a box when you are only paying $75 a box. The Batter Up, Newark Evening World Supplement and Ferguson Bakery Pennant reprints alone peak my interest, toss in an autograph and museum relic along with the possibility of pulling a buyback and I am almost ready to buy in right now.

Upper Deck Brings Back Shoeless Joe

Joe Jackson is once again making an appearance in an Upper Deck set. In 2001 Upper Deck became the first major card company to add Jackson to their checklist when he showed up in the 2001 SP Legendary Cuts release. They even managed to get a game used bat (from his post MLB-ban days) and included not one but two bat relic cards in the Debut Bat Cards insert. He had a single bat relic card and a dual bat relic card with Hall of Famer Paul Waner.

Prior to Upper Deck’s 2001 release Jackson made a couple of appearances in modern day releases, specifically the Conlon sets during the 90s and a Pacific release around the same time. He has also appeared in Donruss/Panini sets a couple of times since 2008 but they tended to use photos from his later years after he left baseball.

Upper Deck has just announced that they will include a Joe Jackson bat relic in the upcoming 2012 Goodwin Champions release which should be out in just about 2 weeks. Once again there will be a single relic card and a multi-swatch relic card, I do not know if this means he will be paired with another player (like he was in the 2001 SP set), if it will be two Jackson bat relics or if it will be a bat relic and maybe a jersey relic.

I do prefer the 2001 SP Legendary Cuts design but I would not cry about pulling this card. I like that Upper Deck has taken a different route and is using art depicting his time with the Cleveland Naps, where he made his biggest impact in the league. I do not understand why they aged him though, I have included a picture that was most likely used by the artist to create this image for comparison and you can see he was quite younger (@ 25 years old) at the time the photo was taken.