The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 2: "Say It Ain't So, Joe"

The young boy came up to "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, according to a reporter, looked at the baseball star and asked, "It ain't true, is it, Joe?"

"Yes, kid, I'm afraid it is," Joe supposedly answered.

Of course now, it is, "Say it ain't so, Joe."

Years afterwards, Joe Jackson claimed this never happened. Today, many baseball scholars say the story was fabricated by a reporter as there were lax journalistic standards back then.

Jackson had just confessed to a grand jury that he had gotten stiffed by a former teammate of $20,000 he was supposed to get for his part in the throwing of the 1919 World Series. "All I got was $5,000 that Lefty Williams handed me in a dirty envelope."

Say It Ain't So. --Cooter