Pale Hose should retire Shoeless Joe's jersey

On the White Sox outfield wall are the numbers of 10 Sox greats, signifying their special place in White Sox history. One great, possibly the greatest of them all is missing - Shoeless Joe Jackson. Shoeless Joe, so named because early in his career he allegedly played without shoes, prowled the Sox outfield at old Comisky Park for the last six of his 13 seasons from 1915 through 1920. His career stats both hitting and fielding are awesome - batting: .356; slugging: 517; on base: .423; fielding: .988.

Alas, Jackson's career was cut short at age 33 in 1920 when he was implicated in the 'Black Sox' World Series scandal, being one of the infamous 8 Black Sox banned for life. Jackson, a dupe, not an active participant, allegedly took $5,000 but then turned in a bravura performance in the 1919 World Series, batting .375, 24 points about his regular season average.

It'll be 96 years next April when the Sox open at the new Comisky Park, a.k.a. US Cellular Field, without Shoeless Joe in the lineup. Wouldn't be a nice bit of mercy and forgiveness for the Sox to bury the baseball bat and put Shoeless Joe up on the wall with the other ten Sox immortals? The only glitch, other than human intransigence, is that there is no Shoeless Joe number to retire. They didn't exist in the Bigs till the Indians and Yanks debuted them in 1929.

Here's the deal. Instead of a baseball with the hero's number inside, give Shoeless Joe the outline of a 1920 ear Sox jersey, with 'Shoeless Joe' inscribed within. Maybe the Sox mucky-mucks could even bring one of Shoeless Joe's descendants up from South Carolina to drop the shroud covering the honor. Even better, name the event: SAY IT'S SO JOE, DAY.