Sunday, January 9, 2011

Making It Big Soda Jerking Day, Ball At Night

Sometimes making it big is like the flip of a coin or being in the right place at the right time.

Such was the start of major league ball player Travis Jackson of the New York Giants.

You see Travis, a native of  the small town of Waldo near Texarkana, was on loan to to his uncle who had a drug store in Marvell.  Young Travis would soda jerk there during the day and play baseball late into the night with what he described in the Baseball Digest as "a bunch of semipro teams in the area."

Jackson did that for two summers in Marvell and when one day during a game being played in Pine Bluff the future arrive in the form of a scout from the Southern Association's Little Rock club. He played for a year in Little Rock and then was picked by the Giants.

He was a Major League Baseball player during the 1920s and 1930s. His exceptional range at shortstop led to the nickname "Stonewall."

Jackson broke into the major leagues in 1922 with the New York Giants, the team he would play for his entire career. After a mediocre 1923 campaign, he established himself in 1924 by playing in 151 games and hitting .302 with 11 home runs.
Playing until 1936, Jackson was regarded as one of the premier defensive shortstops in the league. He was on four National League pennant-winning teams and one World Series champion (1933). He batted .300 or higher six times and, although not known for his production, hit 21 home runs in 1929 and drove in 101 runs in 1934. He finished his career with 135 home runs and a .291 batting average.

Jackson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.  He was born November 2, 1903 in Waldo and died on  July 27, 1987.


No comments:

Post a Comment