[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 269 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                      November 8, 1999.
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 Cleveland 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 one of only seven 
        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 eight players of the Chicago White 
        Sox, including Joseph Jefferson ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson, to throw 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 throw 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, and 80 years have elapsed since 
        the 1919 World Series scandal erupted;
Whereas recently, 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; 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 House of Representatives that Joseph 
Jefferson ``Shoeless Joe'' Jackson should be appropriately honored for his 
outstanding baseball accomplishments.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.