The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-17
JOE JACKSON'S
 RISE TO FAME

It is one of the gIories of the South
 land that it has produced two of the
 greatest baseball players the game has ever had. One of them, of course, is Tyrus Cobb. The other, equally of
 course, is Joseph Jackson. The great
 est 'sIugger of the White Sox was born
 in a backwoodS community in north
 western South Carolina, not so very far from the birthplace of Cobb, and it will be just twenty eight years to-
 morrow since he made his mundane debut. Jackson pere was a tenant
 farmer, and, like so many of his kind he was rich in nothing but children.
 The stock works overtime in such
 communities. and Joe was the first born of a large brood. Tough luck!
 The eldest in such a family doesn't
 find existence any soft snap, and JO- seph was no exception.
 When Joe was a kid a lot of the
 farmers of that section of the South
 despairing of eyer digging more than the barest subsistence from the soil,
 began to pull up stakes and move to
 the mill centers, where the whole family could contribute to the task of making a living by toiling in the
 mills. Brandon Mills, in the ,vicinityq of GreenviIle, attracted the Jackson clan, and there, at the age of twelve, young Joe Jackson began his areer as a, little soldier of industry. From
 early morn till late in the afternoon
 
 be there yet, bent and worn and hope less, except for the circumstance that the owners of the Brandon Mills start
 ed a baseball club made up of em- ployes-
 The mill ball nine was the salvation
 of Joe Jackson. Without educational | advantages, his naturally good braini would in all probability have remain@ ed undeve1oped, except that baseball
 gave him the opportunity to break the shackles that bound him to the industrial wheel Joe was only thir- and he was originally a backstop, and from the first a hard slugger. Oca- sional1y Joe tried his hand at pitching,
 but one day he broke a batter's arm with a pitched ball, and that dis couraged him.
 Joe was a doIIar-a-day hand in the | mill when he got his first chance to play baseball for money. In 1907
 Tom Stouch, manager of the Green vile club, then a semf-pro outfit but
 later in the Carolina Association. of fered the Ianky six-foot mill hand a job at $75s per month Stouh had seen Joe in action with the mill nine on several occasions, and the veteran liked his looks and especially his work with the bat
 Seventy-five bones looked like a young fortune to Joe, for it was more than twice as much as his mill work brought him, and he was the most
 elated youngster in South Carolina. Joe remained with GreenviIIe in 1908. and led the Carolina association in batting, with an average of .346. Man lager Stouch, a former big 1eaguer and a pal of Connie mack, tipped off the | Athletic leader to his find, and at | Comics invitation set out for Phil adelphia with Joe in tow. Jackson | was from the first very dubious about
 associating with mo the 'nehs,'' and as
 the train carried him away from his home his feet grew colder and colder. 1 Somewhere en route heeslipped off the train and took another bak to Green
 Ville After consi derable persuasion
 Joe was induced to try again, and he l actually reached Philadelphia and | played one game in the Athletic uni form, making an excellent showing in
 centerfield and with the bat. Mack was tubilant, but his joy was short lived, for the next day Joe flew the | coop and returned to his home. He
 played with Savannah in 1909, and | returned to the Athletics the foIlowinf1 l spring. but he was sent to New Or 1 leans for further seasoning In Aug ust he was recalled and Mack swap ped him to Cleveland, where he was a
 star until the memorable deal of last year which sent him to the White Sox. 1 Copper exports from Atlantic ports for the week ended June IS were