[Tiger Fan]

Before I get to the 1911 recap I wanted to take a good look at one year wonder who played a key role in the 1911 pennant race.

The George Jackson Story
Although George Jackson never amazed his teammates by opening beer bottles with his eye socket he did have plenty in common with 1980 phenom Joe Charboneau. Charboneau, of course, won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1980 but then quickly faded from sight as he was never able to duplicate that season. Jackson did the same only his one year in the spotlight was far bigger than Super Joe's.

Before we discuss the HOB2 George Jackson here is a brief background on the real life George Jackson. Nicknamed 'Hickory', the Springfield,Mo. native made his major league debut with the Boston Braves in 1911 at the age of 28. He batted .347 in 39 games that season. The following year he played a career high 110 games in the Braves outfield and hit .262. He would have just 10 more at bats in his career, all with the Braves in 1913. His final numbers - 152 games player, a .285 batting average with 4 home runs and 73 rbi's. Jackson died in 1972 at the age of 90.

In the HOB2 it almost appeared Jackson would never have a pro career. He was not selected in the 1911 amateur draft as no team was willing to take a chance on a 28 year old with slightly below average ratings and merely average talent. The 4th place Chicago Cubs, concerned about having to use 38 year old Fred Odwell in the outfield used their first round pick in 1911 on an outfielder with huge potential named George Burns. However, it was clear after training camp that Burns needed some seasoning so the Cubs would have to look elsewhere for their needs this season. Chicago decided to sign Jackson to a free agent contract the day after the season opened. Jackson was in the Cubs starting lineup that day and the rest is history.

However, history wasn't made in Jackson first game. Although he did manage a hit off of Pittsburgh's Chief Bender he was 1-for-4 on the day. He went 0-for-3 against Brooklyn's Doc Reisling the next day and the Cubs brass was on the verge of looking elsewhere for an outfielder. However, when he reeled off 17 hits in the next 10 games the Cubs knew they had their leftfielder. Jackson batted .327 in April but it was nothing compared to his second month in the major leagues. He hit .407 with 23 rbi's in May and was named the National League's Player of the Month. Jackson batted over .300 in three of the seasons final four months to finish the year with a .343 average. He was second only to Brooklyn's Bill Carrigan in the batting race and finished in the top 5 in both rbi's and doubles. His season was certainly good enough to win the rookie of the year award and there was only modest protest when won the MVP over Cub teammate Andy Oyler. Oyler hit .289 with a league best 18 homers and 99 rbi's. For the first time in the HOB2 a player had been named both rookie of the year and MVP.

The Cubs, led by Jackson, Oyler and Frank Schulte who was the NL MVP in both 1909 and 1910, won the National League Pennant by 5 games over Brooklyn. Jackson hit .300 in the series (6-for-20) but his Cubs were no match for the Boston Red Sox and lost in 5 games.

Jackson also made the National League All-Star team in 1911. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the top of the 7th and grounded out. He stayed in and played rightfield but did not have a play in the field. He did come to bat again in the 9th inning with one out and the Nationals trailing by a run but Eddie Cicotte fanned him. The game ended 5-4 for the American Leaguers.

1911 would prove to be Jackson one year of stardom. He posted respectable numbers in 1912, batting .297, but his stats (see below) suffered a big drop off in all offensive categories. He was by no means the only Cub to struggle as the team dropped from 1st place in 1911 to a .500 season in 1912.

By 1913 George Burns was ready for the major leagues so Jackson was expendable. Just prior to the deadline he was dealt to the Phillies for 3B Art Hoelskoetter. Jackson had 2 hits in his debut with the Phillies but his production dropped again from the previous season. He was a free agent at the end of 1913 and he longed to return to the Windy City despite some interest from the Phillies in retaining him. The Cubs did not pursue him but the cross-town White Sox did, signing Jackson to a 3 year deal. He was a White Sox player for 1 day as the Sox dealt him back to the Phillies for journeyman 3B Al Bridwell. Jackson got out of the gate quickly hitting .310 in April but when a mid-May slump continued well into June the Phillies called up Grover Gilmore from AAA Scranton. Jackson would never be an everyday player in the majors again.

Two stints on the DL cost him much of the 1915 season he spent most of 1916 in Scranton. It was the first time in his career he had been demoted to the minor leagues. The Giants signed him as the fourth outfielder in 1917. By 1919 his skills had eroded to the point where the Giants felt that despite his versality in playing all 3 outfield positions his bat was simply not good enough for the big leagues and he was optioned to AAA San Francisco.

Cincinnati signed him prior to the 1920 season and gave him the opportunity to make the 25 man roster. He was sent to AAA just prior to opening day and eventually was demoted all the way to Class A ball.

Now 37 and with the 1921 season coming up next it appears Jackson will likely retire. He will be one of those players that 50 seasons from now when we look back at the award winners we will say 'Who?" For one all too brief summer Jackson came from nowhere as an undrafted free agent to the top of the world as a National League MVP. Unfortunately, like Joe Charboneau in real life, Jackson was Super for just one year.

But what happened to Jackson? How could a player be so good for an entire season but never come close to duplicating his performance? My guess is there must have been a hitch in his swing, maybe he couldn't hit the curveball or possibly the inside fastball. Why did it take a full season for this? We are in 1911 scouting isn't what it is today. There was no videotape so it took much longer but eventually word got around and Jackson's career was on the downswing once pitchers learned how to handle him. That is my guess anyway.

  GEORGE JACKSON CAREER MAJOR LEAGUE STATS :

 

  YEAR   AVG HR RBI   G  AB   H 2B 3B   R SB CS  BB   K  OBP  SLG   TEAMS

  1911  .343  1  92 145 551 189 41 12  86 24 13  60 126 .408 .466   CHC,NL

  1912  .297  0  69 143 509 151 31  7  59 12 12  40  95 .348 .385   CHC

  1913  .277  1  34 143 559 155 30  8  71 20 20  36 113 .321 .365   CHC,PHI

  1914  .286  0  45 100 332  95 19  5  38 13  8  28  57 .342 .373   CHW,PHI

  1915  .250  0  19  48 144  36 11  2  16  8  2   7  31 .285 .354   PHI

  1916  .275  0   5  20  69  19  5  2  10  3  0   8  15 .351 .406   PHI

  1917  .295  1  23  78 271  80 19  5  40  4  6  22  49 .348 .413   NYG

  1918  .297  1  21  69 229  68 11  3  23  4  5  18  36 .348 .384   NYG

  1919  .213  0   2  19  61  13  3  0   6  1  2   5   8 .273 .262   NYG

 

              HOB2  REAL LIFE

  Total AB  : 2725    554

  Total AVG : .296   .285

  Total Hits: 806     158

  Total HR  : 4         4

  Total RBI : 310      73

  Total Runs: 349      85

  Total SB  : 89       34

.



  CAREER MINOR LEAGUE STATS :

 YEAR TEAM           LEVEL  G  AB   H 2B 3B HR RBI   R  BB   K  AVG  OBP  SLG

 1915 Scranton(PhN)   AAA 102 411 124 32  7  0  54  60  45  83 .302 .377 .414 

 1919 SanFran(NYG)    AAA  42 169  39  5  5  1  17  15  10  20 .231 .286 .337 

 1920 Louisville(Cin) AAA  76 323  94 30  5  3  45  54  25  43 .291 .342 .443

      Chattanooga(Cin) AA  14  58  21  5  1  0   9   7   1   5 .362 .383 .483 

      Billings (Cin)    A  64 280 114 18  3  2  28  60  20  42 .407 .454 .514 

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[ 05-19-2002, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: Tiger Fan ]

[CMH]

wow...i really do love these updates. interesting and informative. good job.