This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/8/2017
Graded EX+ 70(5.5) by SGC. Featured for your bidding consideration is the rookie card of the great American tragedy known as "Shoeless Joe" Jackson. Jackson is pictured here as a member of Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, with who he played a mere ten games before Mack shipped him to Cleveland for the light hitting Bris Lord. Jackson was known as something of a "rube" while enduring his time in Philadelphia by both his teammates as well as management. When he resurfaced in Cleveland, however, his teammates accepted his country ways and limited education in exchange for his immense talents on the field. Once left alone to ply his trade, Jackson batted a robust .408 during the 1911 season and smacked an astounding 26 triples the following year. The offered relic is one of astonishing pride, as if some young caramel-coated, sticky-fingered kid knew of the importance this pasteboard would one day enjoy. 1911, the year the offered E90-1 American Caramel card came into existence, the year Joe hit .408 (the sixth highest season average ever,), really was Joe's rookie season. And what a truly majestic sight he must have been! He wielded a 36-inch, 48-ounce club affectionately named "Black Betsy" and in 1919 struck out just 10 times. Just 10 times! Babe Ruth himself modeled his style after Jackson's because, quote: "he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter." So Jackson was clearly majestic, sure, but to call him noble or even royal, however, is neither accurate nor fair. Joe was an illiterate country "rube" whose alleged complicity in the 1919 Black Sox scandal was, at worst, something like the complicity of the entire baseball world in the steroids scandal of the late 1990s. Everyone, from the owners and managers down to the coaches, trainers, and players had an idea of what was going on, but they did nothing, said nothing. For Joe's part, all he did in the 1919 World Series was play error-less ball and hit .375 with 12 hits, leading both teams in both categories. He would later admit under oath to agreeing to participate in the fix, and he would of course be banned from baseball for his alleged complicity, giving rise to the great American tragedy we so fondly remember today as "Shoeless Joe." Proudly offered here is one of the single finest examples of Jackson's 1909-11 E90-1 American Caramel rookie card in existence. Rigorously if not conservatively graded SGC 70 EX+ 5.5, there are none like it at either SGC or PSA, and there are only two finer examples on record at each grading firm, two PSA 8s, and one SGC 6 and one SGC 7. Very strongly encouraged, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire true cardboard royalty in the form of the fifth finest Shoeless Joe Jackson rookie in existence. Rest assured, the other four, which may or may not be as desirable as this one, are well secured in the world's very finest private collections, and they certainly won't be coming out of hiding anytime soon. Moreover, with just 3 examples in the EX 5 tier at each SGC and PSA, this really is the fifth (or better) finest example known to exist and is bested by just 2.68% of the 149 total copies of this card that have been graded at the two leading grading firms. EX+ to EX/MT or better corners join NM or better edges around a brilliantly registered image that noticeably favors the right border but to a degree that still affords the piece the feel of a fairly equidistant frame. While both surfaces are completely 100% free of any unusual stains, paper loss, or other aberrant stock imperfections, the most impressive feature is unquestionably its tremendously accurate and noticeably bold registration, particularly in the area of Joe's face. A perfect precision of the all important registration of his red lips joins a noticeably bold and accurate impression all throughout to render a virtually unimprovable image of the young rookie, resting at ease against "Black Betsy," an image that exudes a clean and appealing boyishness, as opposed to the oftentimes ugly images rendered by inaccurate registration on so many other surviving examples. A spectacular and imagination-conjuring relic that comes with our utmost of recommendations.