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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 289 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 289

  Expressing the sense of the Senate that Joseph Jefferson ``Shoeless 
   Joe'' Jackson should be appropriately honored for his outstanding 
                       baseball accomplishments.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 27, 2005

  Mr. DeMint (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Graham, and Mr. Feingold) 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate that Joseph Jefferson ``Shoeless 
   Joe'' Jackson should be appropriately honored for his outstanding 
                       baseball accomplishments.

Whereas Joseph Jefferson ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson, a native of Greenville, South 
        Carolina, and a local legend, began his professional career and received 
        his nickname while playing baseball for the Greenville Spinners in 1908;
Whereas ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson moved to the Philadelphia Athletics for his 
        major league debut in 1908, to the Cleveland Naps in 1910, and to the 
        Chicago White Sox in 1915;
Whereas ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson's accomplishments throughout his 13-year career 
        in professional baseball were outstanding--he was 1 of only 7 Major 
        League Baseball players to ever top the coveted mark of a .400 batting 
        average for a season, and he earned a lifetime batting average of .356, 
        the third highest of all time;
Whereas ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson's career record makes him one of our Nation's 
        top baseball players of all time;
Whereas in 1919, the infamous ``Black Sox'' scandal erupted when an employee of 
        a New York gambler allegedly bribed 8 players of the Chicago White Sox, 
        including Joseph Jefferson ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson, to lose the first 
        and second games of the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds;
Whereas in September 1920, a criminal court acquitted ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson 
        of the charge that he conspired to lose the 1919 World Series;
Whereas despite the acquittal, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's first 
        commissioner, banned ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson from playing Major League 
        Baseball for life without conducting any investigation of Jackson's 
        alleged activities, issuing a summary punishment that fell far short of 
        due process standards;
Whereas the evidence shows that Jackson did not deliberately misplay during the 
        1919 World Series in an attempt to make his team lose the World Series;
Whereas during the 1919 World Series, Jackson's play was outstanding--his 
        batting average was .375 (the highest of any player from either team), 
        he set a World Series record with 12 hits, he committed no errors, and 
        he hit the only home run of the series;
Whereas because of his lifetime ban from Major League Baseball, ``Shoeless Joe'' 
        Jackson has been excluded from consideration for admission to the Major 
        League Baseball Hall of Fame;
Whereas ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson died in 1951, after fully serving his lifetime 
        ban from baseball, and 85 years have elapsed since the 1919 World Series 
        scandal erupted;
Whereas Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig took an important first 
        step toward restoring the reputation of ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson by 
        agreeing to investigate whether he was involved in a conspiracy to alter 
        the outcome of the 1919 World Series and whether he should be eligible 
        for inclusion in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame;
Whereas it has been 6 years since Commissioner Selig initiated his investigation 
        of ``Shoeless Joe'', but there has been no resolution;
Whereas the Chicago White Sox are the 2005 American League Champions, and will 
        compete in the World Series for the first time since 1959;
Whereas ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson helped lead the Chicago White Sox to their last 
        World Series Championship in 1917; and
Whereas it is appropriate for Major League Baseball to remove the taint upon the 
        memory of ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson and honor his outstanding baseball 
        accomplishments: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Joseph Jefferson 
``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson should be appropriately honored for his 
outstanding baseball accomplishments.
                                 <all>
```