The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-18
JOE JACKSON, 27 TO-DAY, IS ONE OF
 MACK'S FINDS

There are larger towns in South Carolina than Brandon Mills, just as there are more important places in Georgia than Royston, and bigger municipalities in Nebraska than Wahoo, It is a safe bet, however, that the villages mentioned have more civic pride per capita than any of the. flourishing cities in their respective states. nd with good reason. Fer Brandon Mills is the birthplace of Joseph Jackson, Royston is the native bailiwick of Tyrus Raymond Cobb, and Wahoo sticks out on the map as the starting point of Samuel Craw- pie of these kerosene circuit com n1unities look with 1ord1ys condescen- sion upon the people of neighboring towns who can blame them
 All of which is introductory to the statement that MT. Joseph Jackson, the man who put Brandon Mills on tie map, was born twenty-seven years ago today, June IS, 1888. He was reared in South Carolina and, when nineteen year old and one inch short of six feet in height, he played his first professional ball in Green vile, in the Carolina Association. Joe was big, modest, rather bashful kid when he went to Greenvi11e, and the sights and sounds of what seemed to him a big city rather got his goat at
 
 and was leading the league in batting when he attracted the atteation of Connie Mack.
 Most minor league players are not particularly averse to a chance in the main show. Indeed, most of them seem to, rather banker for it. Not so Joseph. Mack had to send his most persuasive Heutenants to induce Joe to join the Philadelphia club. Twice he started for PhiIade deIphia, but got gelid extrernites, and turned back. Finally he agreed to go if his wife was permitted to trail along, and he landed in the Quaker city just as the 1908 season was drawing to a close.
 Mack sent his new recruit to the center garden and in spite of his stage fright, he played a game that got his name in big letters in every Phi1a- de1phia paper. Joe was terribly homesick, however. and after every game he had to be closely guarded to keep him from hiking for home. He played in seven games with the Ath- letics, but he couldn't reconcile him. self then to living among No'thenehs and Connis sent him to New Orleans
 ''Shoeless Joe,'' as the sporting scribes had dubbed him, led the Southern League in batting Mack still had a. string on him, but when, in the latter part of the 1910 season, the Maps offered to swap Lord for the  big southerner, Mack made the deal. Because of his Philadelphia expert- ence Joe had got the reputation of being yellow, and when he broke into the American League again all the players made him the target of their jibes and jeers, hoping to annex his Angora. But there was nothing do- ing. Joe played in twenty games for Cleveland in the latter part of the 1910 season and batted .3S7, leading the league and surpassing even Ty Cobb.
 Even then the players and scribes refused to believe it was true, and asserted that it was but a flash in the pan. When Joe came back the next annum and played in 147 games and finished with a batting average of .40s the sceptics had to admit that Joseph had the goods. His subse- quent performances have left no room for doubt that Jackson is entitled to a permanent niche in the baseball hall of fame.