July 30, 1910: The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 7-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. It is a battle between future Hall of Fame pitchers, although neither has his best stuff. Walter Johnson goes the distance for the Senators. Charles Albert "Chief" Bender takes a 7-0 lead into the 9th inning, then stumbles. Manager Connie Mack is forced to bring in another future Hall-of-Famer, Eddie Plank, and he isn't much better. Before Plank can secure the final out of the game, the Senators have scored 5 runs, and nearly completed an amazing comeback.
Not a factor in this game is left fielder Joe Jackson. On this day, Mack, also the team's treasurer, under owner Ben Shibe, sends Jackson to the Cleveland Naps. as the player to be named later, along with infielder Morris "Morrie" Rath, for left fielder Bristol "Bris" Lord, who had previously played with the A's on their 1905 American League Pennant winners.
The Naps, named for their manager, 2nd baseman and best hitter, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, beat the St. Louis Browns on this day, 2-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Cy Young, 43 years old, notched the 502nd win of his career.
Joseph Jefferson Jackson had become known as "Shoeless Joe" because of an incident in a minor league game. The shoes he'd been given were too tight, so he took them off in the outfield. He was a farmboy from the Appalachian western region of South Carolina, and had never learned how to read. He knew he had to learn how to sign his name, to give kids autographs, but he got around his illiteracy by having his wife order for him in restaurants.
And, up to this point, he hadn't yet shown that he could "read" pitchers, either. Just past his 23rd birthday, he had played 10 games for the A's, none this season. Although batting .354 for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association, he had gone 6-for-40 at the major league level, or .150. Reports disagree as to why he hadn't made it in Philadelphia: Either he didn't get along with his teammates, or he didn't get along with Mack, or he simply couldn't handle the big city.
Cleveland was then the 6th-largest city in America, but not as bad as Philadelphia. And Jackson now had Nap Lajoie to learn from. They got along much better. It's no coincidence that the Indians traded him to the Chicago White Sox in 1915, after Lajoie had fallen out with team management and been traded.
Babe Ruth supposedly modeled his lefthanded swing after Jackson's. At the close of the 1920 season, just 33 years old, he had a .356 lifetime batting average (still the 3rd-highest ever), a whopping 170 OPS+, and 1,772 hits, including 307 doubles, 168 triples and 54 home runs. What would later be known as the 3,000 Hit Club was within reach for him.
He was also a good baserunner, having stolen 202 bases. How good a fielder was he? Ty Cobb called him the greatest left fielder he'd ever seen, and his glove "the place where triples go to die." There was no Baseball Hall of Fame yet, but Shoeless Joe seemed to be on his way.
Jackson never played again after 1920: He and 7 White Sox teammates were permanently banned for their apparent roles in throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. In a weird twist, the sign to the gamblers that the fix was still on was that the 1st Reds batter in Game 1 was to be hit with a pitch. That turned out to be Morrie Rath. (He was not injured.)
How did the A's do without Jackson? Pretty well, winning 4 of the next 5 AL Pennants, including 3 World Series. That dynasty was broken up in the 1914-15 off-season, as Mack needed money during the fight between the AL and the National League on one side, and the Federal League on the other. If he and Jackson had worked out their differences, and Jackson had become a star with the A's, he probably would have been sold off as part of this process, anyway.
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July 30, 1910 was a Saturday. These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Highlanders lost to the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 in 10 innings at the Huntington Avenue Grounds. The Highlanders became the Yankees in 1913.
* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Boston Doves, 4-1 and 4-0 at the Polo Grounds. Red Ames pitched a 4-0 shutout in the 2nd game. The Doves became the Boston Braves in 1912.
* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 in 14 innings at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The game was scoreless for the 1st 13 innings. The Superbas became the Dodgers the next season.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ty Cobb went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and an RBI.
* And the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
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