On the market

Shoeless Joe Jackson’s prized bat, Black Betsy, is won at an eBay auction 22 years ago today by a 30-year-old businessman named Rob Mitchell.

The 40-ounce hickory bat sells for $577,610, which is believed to be the most ever paid for a baseball bat.

The handmade bat reportedly is given to Jackson 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.

Black Betsy is used by Jackson as his go-to bat 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.