A Shoeless Joe Jackson Is Finally Mine!

It only took well over a decade of collecting for me to finally land a piece featuring a baseball legend and tough hobby target: Shoeless Joe Jackson. I almost certainly could have picked up more conventional items for reasonable prices had I focused on this goal earlier on, but things happen and players are missed. Owning one now is better than not owning one at all.

I can always find a card down the road when money is more plentiful or the market allows, but for now this sweet 1911 Spalding Guide Baseball Team page pairing the Cleveland Naps and Boston Red Sox will certainly do. Shoeless Joe only has but so many items and none are that affordable, so oddball was likely always going to be the direction I went in. I am a huge fan of these Spalding pages so adding one was always a solid path to finding a Jackson piece to add to my collection.

The added bonus of Joe bringing along some recognizable friends in Cy Young, Nap Lajoie, Addie Joss, Elmer Flick, and Harry Hooper was icing on the random vintage goodness cake.

A Hall of Fame T206 Pickup: Addie Joss, Pitching Pose, Sweet Cap Back (PSA 2.5)!

Here's yet another purchased from work piece of my 2018 Tax Refund Splurge Spectacular. It was sent off to the folks at PSA and arrived back a couple of months ago. It instantly becomes one of the highlights of my T206 Collection and my first card of the Human Hairpin, Addie Joss.

This beautiful Sweet Cap Back Pitching Pose was an easy decision when it came into the shop in a large collection. It came back from PSA as a 2.5 and presents very well for the grade. Joss, a tremendous pitcher, also had interest in engineering and was a part-time sports journalist during his playing career.

Joss is the only player in the Hall of Fame whose playing career was less than ten years. He threw a perfect game and an additional no-hitter and posted a career ERA of 1.89 in over 2300 innings (and a FIP not too far removed from that number). After dying at the open of the 1911 season due to tubercular meningitis, the first "All-Star Game" was played in his honor.