A 1911 “Shoeless” Joe Jackson autographed photograph by Frank W. Smith sold for $2.01 million, the most ever paid for a signed sports photograph.
Nicknamed “Shoeless Joe”, Jackson played for three Major League Baseball teams during his 12-year career – the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Naps (now Indians) and the Chicago White Sox.
Jackson’s baseball career is well documented. He is well known for his involvement in the Black Sox Scandal, in which eight members of the White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
While Jackson’s guilt has been debated over the years, he was banned after the 1920 season.
He’s currently ineligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a result of the scandal.
The autograph is extra special, with Jackson known to be illiterate and a hard signature to grab.
The same photograph famously sold for $245,748 back in 2015.
Grading giant PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) has certified and graded the card, Mint 9.
The photo was offered by Christie’s and Hunt Auctions in New York in the auction Extra Innings: A Private Collection of Important Baseball Memorabilia.
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The 246-lot auction also featured a Babe Ruth professional model baseball bat with eight home run notches that sold for $1.44 million, a 1925 Lou Gehrig autographed rookie exhibit postcard that went for $942,361 and a 1952 Joe DiMaggio autographed handwritten letter to Marilyn Monroe that fetched $719,000.
– with AP