Black Betsy on the market

Joe Jackson with Black Betsy

Shoeless Joe Jackson’s prized bat, Black Betsy, goes up for auction on eBay 23 years ago today with the winning bid going to a 30-year-old businessman named Rob Mitchell.

Jackson’s 40-ounce hickory bat sells for $577,610, which is believed to be the most ever paid at the time for a baseball bat.

Jackson reportedly receives the handmade bat in 1903, when Jackson is just 15 years old.

Jackson goes on to play 13 seasons in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians and, mostly, the Chicago White Sox.

Jackson uses Black Betsy as his go-to piece of lumber during a career in which he hits .356 – the highest batting average for any player not already in the Hall of Fame.

Jackson, of course, is not eligible for induction, having been banned from the game for life in 1921 for his role with seven teammates in fixing the 1919 World Series.