Why one of MLB’s greatest players isn’t in Hall of Fame

Statistically “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, but allegations that he participated in a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series cut his Major League Baseball career short and have kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Upstate native has the third-highest career batting average in MLB history at .356. He hit .408 as a rookie and better than .300 every year he played a full season. He was still in his prime in 1920 when he was suspended, along with eight other White Sox players, after allegations surfaced that they had thrown the World Series.

Jackson hit .375 during the matchup with the Cincinnati Reds, leading both teams in hitting.

He denied any wrongdoing but remains on the MLB’s ineligible list.

This summer Arlene Marcley, curator of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, sent a formal petition and letters to the league office requesting Jackson be reinstated, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred responded and said the ban will continue indefinitely.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Why one of MLB’s greatest players isn’t in Hall of Fame."