Did “Shoeless” Joe Jackson Really Play Without Shoes?

When MLB was in its early stage, players like Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe Jackson took the game of baseball to the next level. They made the game even more entertaining with their hitting capabilities. However, there are also so many myths about the players at those times. Many fans still wonder how did Shoeless Joe Jackson get his nickname ‘Shoeless’. And if his name was Shoeless, did he really play baseball without wearing shoes?

Major League Baseball is one of the oldest major professional sports leagues in the world. The first event of MLB took place on April 22, 1876. And the reason MLB is one of the most ancient and still profitable sports leagues in the world is that the players at that time made it popular.

How did Jackson get his nickname ‘Shoeless’?

Jackson started his baseball career in 1908 with the Philadelphia Athletics as a bench player. During his Athletics years at Jackson played only 10 games. In those years, he might not have played more games, but Jackson did get something that remained forever with him.

During one of the games for the Athletics, Jackson played a single game without his shoes, because of the unavailability of the new shoes. When he was on the pitch one of the fans noticed him and reportedly shouted “You shoeless son of a gun, you.”

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And as per Sports Casting, one of the media outlets heard the nickname and reported it. Since then, Joe Jackson became Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Did Joe Jackson really play without shoes?

However, Jackson admitted that he never liked the nickname. Because, apart from that one game in the Carolina Association, he never played without shoes. 

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He said, “I’ve read and heard every kind of yarn imaginable on how I got the name. I never played the outfield barefoot, and that was the only day I ever played in my stockinged feet. But it stuck with me.”

In his 12 years long career in MLB, Shoeless Joe Jackson played for the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox. After the 1920 season, Shoeless Joe Jackson bid farewell to MLB.