Lot # 1025: 1948 Joe Jackson Most Thrilling Experience Letter with 1917 World Series Content Written and Signed by Wife Katie Wynn Jackson - JSA LOA

It's an as told by story, in this 1948 Joe Jackson greatest thrill letter. First a bit of relevant back story. At the tender age of seven, Jackson began working in a textile mill to help support his family, rather than attending school. As a result, Jackson grew up functionally illiterate.

Dated 9-6-48, the offered letter was written and signed in Joe Jackson's name, by his wife Katie Wynn Jackson, who typically answered Jackson's fan mail. The content recounts Jackson's "most thrilling experience in My Baseball career" as a diving catch of "A looping liner over short stop's head". The content also states, "If I had miss that Ball we would have Lost the game". The situation in this story was the seventh inning of Game 1 of the 1917 World Series, with Jackson and the Chicago White Sox facing the New York Giants. There is a small error in the written content, with the score of the game reported as 3-2 in favor of the White Sox, though the actual score was 2-1 Sox.

The Sox went on to win the Series in six games, for the franchise's second championship. A report credited to Clarence Rowland of the Chicago Tribune describes this same play as "Diving head-first, Jackson made the catch, turned a somersault, and bobbed up on his feet again and the ball was firmly clutched in his grasp". A SABR article containing this account cites "Rowland called the catch one of Jackson’s best — and a likely game-saver".

The signature and all writing in this nicely preserved letter remain bold and legible. A newspaper photograph clipping of Jackson buying ice cream for a trio of South Carolina boys later in life is affixed at bottom.

Full LOA from James Spence/JSA.