Say it is so, Shoeless Joe

Ken Osburn
AP

Dan Roberts, dressed as Shoeless Joe Jackson, talks baseball with a guest at the dedication and grand opening of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library on Saturday in Greenville.

GREENVILLE — Richard Davis flies into Greenville from LAX today for his first look at one of his favorite TV stars, the new Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library. The founder of Charleston's Trademark Properties bought the actual red brick home the late baseball icon once lived in and charitably moved it across Greenville to an ideal West End display spot next to Fluor Field, home of the Class A South Atlantic League's Greenville Drive.

Cameras captured it all as Davis supervised the move for a cable pilot episode of "The Real Deal," similar to his former show "Flip This House" and one of the projects he has been working on this week in California.

That was back in the summer of 2006. Finally furnished thanks to the tireless efforts of Arlene Marcley, executive assistant to Greenville Mayor Knox White, the museum officially opened Saturday with a grand ceremony. Those on hand included South Carolina-born former big leaguers Bobby Richardson, Lou Brissie and Bobby Bolin.

"I can't wait to see it," Davis said. "I've heard nothing but good reviews."

John Strubel of Mount Pleasant is president of the South Carolina chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR). He toured the museum Saturday before the organization gathered for a lunch meeting.

"It was nice," Strubel said. "It was obviously very small but very well preserved. I think they continually will get a lot of new books and things as time goes along."

Josh Hamilton, too

Of course, infatuation with myth can go too far. Jackson, in fact, accepted $5,000 to throw the 1919 World Series with the help of seven Chicago "Black Sox" teammates. Jackson never gave the money back. His baseball salary for all of 1919 was $6,000.

In other ways, the shrine to Shoeless Joe doesn't go far enough. There ought to be a little more association with Jackson and cheating, in as much as he makes Barry Bonds look saintly.

The museum address is 356 Field Street, a tip of the ballcap to Jackson's .356 career batting average.

It should be $5000 Field Street.

Ah, but such a commitment stirs historical curiosity and debate, both good things. There is some good recent history, too.

The best reputation rehabilitation tale here isn't about the disgraced dead outfielder with no Hall of Fame shot but the once-tarnished young outfielder with a ray of hope. Davis' official foreman on the Jackson house moving job was one Josh Hamilton, the first overall draft pick in the 1999 major league draft and former Charleston RiverDogs star.

Doby competition

Two summers ago, Hamilton was just emerging from a four-year battle with crack and cocaine addiction when Davis hired him. The two met in 2000, when Davis rented a Folly Beach condo to Hamilton and his parents.

Now Hamilton is 33 months sober. The 27-year-old Texas Rangers right fielder is leading the American League in home runs.

"Forget TV. Forget real estate," Davis said. "Just being involved in something like this and turning a lot of negatives into positives makes for a great story of redemption. I look at that episode sometimes and think, 'Did we actually do that?' "

The highlight of the South Carolina SABR meeting was a vote among the 30-35 members on a new name for the chapter. Leading candidates were Shoeless Joe Jackson and the late Larry Doby, a Camden native and Hall of Famer who was the first black player in the American League as a member of Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians.

Jackson got more support from those SABR members assembled but Doby, popular on absentee ballots, won by two votes.

Maybe Richard Davis can find a former Doby domicile and move it next to Riley Park.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.