Shoeless Joe Jackson Quotes

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present an unprecedented collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Shoeless Joe Jackson and about Shoeless Joe Jackson.

"I copied (Shoeless Joe) Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter." - Hall of Famer Babe Ruth
Shoeless Joe Jackson Quotes

Quotes From & About Shoeless Joe Jackson

Quotes From Shoeless Joe Jackson

"God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise."

"Hey, big mouth (yelling out to a heckler), how do you spell triple?"

"I ain't afraid to tell the world that it don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball."

"I felt I was duty-bound under contract to stick with Cleveland, and I can truthfully say, in all my playing days there and everywhere, I never shirked a duty to baseball."

"I ain't afraid to tell the world that it don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball."

"What a hell of a league this is. I hit .387, .408, and .395 the last three years and I ain't won nothin' yet!" Source: Baseball: An Informal History (Douglass Wallop)

"When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base anyway I could, whether by hitting or by getting hit."

Quotes About Shoeless Joe Jackson

"Everything he hit was really blessed. He could break bones with his shots. Blindfold me and I could still tell you when Joe hit the ball. It had a special crack." - Ernie Shore

"He (Shoeless Joe Jackson) was the finest natural hitter in the history of the game." - Ty Cobb

"I copied (Shoeless Joe) Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter." - Babe Ruth

"(Shoeless Joe) Jackson's fall from grace is one of the real tragedies of baseball. I always thought he was more sinned against than sinning." - Connie Mack

"Say it ain't so, Joe." - unknown little boy allegedly outside of the courtroom

Quotes From & About Shoeless Joe Jackson



Did you know that Shoeless Joe Jackson named his bat Black Betsy? Too easy you say? Did you know that Black Betsy was thirty-six inches long and weighed forty-eight ounces?

Shoeless Joe Jackson was an illiterate mill worker when he came to Cleveland in 1911. He hit .408 in the big leagues that same season.

Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball by Judge Landis and the fight to have him reinstated still rages on — even in our hall of fame forum on Baseball Fever.