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Rare Shoeless Joe Jackson cards continue to gain value despite lifetime ban
Where do you stand on the question of whether Joe Jackson belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame—or deserved his lifetime ban?
The ongoing debate fuels non-stop interest in Shoeless Joe, one of the game’s great pure hitters. As such, any vintage Jackson items that surface in the memorabilia market are sure to attract attention. Case in point: a 1917 Standard Biscuit Co. issue that sold for $75,100 on 69 bids at eBay in September. PSA slabbed it as a VG 3, but when you look at the scanned photographs, you wouldn’t question a higher grade.
Historically, the card—cataloged as D350-2—is significant because it came out two years before the notorious “Black Sox” scandal of 1919. That year, multiple members of the Chicago White Sox, including Jackson, were accused of throwing the World Series vs. the Cincinnati Reds. Famously, Shoeless Joe hit a robust .375 in the series—the highest average on either team. He always claimed he was innocent of charges.
The 1917 Standard Biscuit card pictures a photograph of Jackson—who was around 30 years old at the time—in a batting pose. Under the photo is his name accompanied by “L.F.—Chicago White Sox” plus the card’s number (82).
The reverse of the card bears an ad from the Standard Biscuit Co. of San Francisco. The text reads, “A photograph of a member of either the American or National League will be found in every 5 and 10 cent package of our products. There are 200 in the set.”
Variations of the same card—same photo, design, and text—are backed by ads from such other firms as Collins-McCarthy Candy Co., H. Weil Baking Co. (cataloged as D328) of New Orleans, and The Boston Store (H801-8), a national retailer of sporting goods and clothing.
While we’re on the subject of Shoeless Joe, here’s a look at three related items that recently changed hands via eBay. None are in the stratosphere of the 1917 Standard Biscuit Co., but each drew a four-figure price:
• $6,407 on 53 bids for a 1919-21 W514 card graded SGC 2. This series was sold in strips and usually cut apart by retailers or consumers. The fronts offer colorful illustrations of such players as Jackson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson. The flip sides are blank. This particular Jackson example is centered and cut well, but suffers from heavy age spotting.
• $4,050 on 28 bids for a vintage 1919 White Sox AL Championship team photograph. The 12 ChiSox players in this Type 1 photo were masked in white paint during an early editorial process to better display faces and shapes.
• $3,557 on 56 bids for a 1949 Play Ball Jackson card graded PSA 3. The front of the card features a photograph of Jackson in a post-swing pose. The reverse gives us a quick biography, complete with his personal stats (he was 6-foot, 175 pounds and born in Brandon Mills, N.C., on June 19, 1888)—but doesn’t mention the Black Sox scandal.
Another example of the same card sold for $1,876 on 32 bids; this one was graded PSA 1.5. Still another, with an SGC 1 grade, brought $1,800 on 44 bids.
• $1,973 on 19 bids for a 1947 Sports Exchange Baseball Miniatures card. This rarity was issued as an uncut six-card sheet by an early hobby publication called “The Trading Post.” As such, collectors would hand-cut the cards, making them prone to condition problems.
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