Shoeless Joe 
& Black Betsy

By Phil Bildner

Illustrated by C. F. Payne

Simon & Schuster Books 
for Young Readers,  2002

Grades 2-5

Shoeless Joe Jackson earned his fame in baseball by having the highest batting average ever recorded by a rookie (until 2001) and by once playing a game in his stocking feet. Bildner uses the ups and downs of Jackson¹s career to craft an original yarn using repetition and exaggeration, especially enlarging Jackson’s relationship with his bat, Black Betsy. The illustrations extend the tall-tale qualities of the book and complement Bildner’s folksy humor. An afterword details Jackson’s career and provides information on his banishment from baseball.

About the Author

Phil Bildner graduated from New York University’s School of Law.  After practicing law for less than a year, he realized he really wanted to work with children. Since then, he has earned his Masters Degree in Education and has been a teacher in New York public schools. Bildner has written several children’s books and young adult novels, but this is the first to be published. He takes the time to write daily, even if for only a short time.

Activities

• After reading about Jackson’s exclusion from baseball, discuss the fairness of the decision. Vote online to reinstate Jackson: www.blackbetsy.com/jjselig.htm

• What kinds of wood are used in modern bats? Compare wooden bats to metal bats. Find out how the composition, size, and weight of bats has changed since the early 1900s.

• When Black Betsy was sold, the bat become the most valuable baseball bat ever sold. What was the selling price? Why do you think it sold for such a high price?

More, more, more…

• Gutman, Dan.  Shoeless Joe & Me.  HarperCollins, 2002.

• Italia, Bob.  Chicago White Sox.  Abdo, 1997.

• Rosenthal, Paul.  America at Bat.  National Geographic Society, 2002.

• Stewart, Wayne.  The History of the Chicago White Sox. Creative Education, 2003.

Websites

Photo gallery, career highlights and quotes of Shoeless Joe

Shoeless Joe's Virtual Hall of Fame

Science Behind a Home Run