The Kansas City T-Bones have signed catcher Joe Jackson to a contract for the 2017 season.
Jackson, who turned 25 on Friday, is the great-great-great-nephew of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, and the first person in the family to play professional baseball since his great-great-great-uncle was banned as part of the Chicago “Black Sox” scandal in the 1919 World Series.
The T-Bones’ Jackson, who’s 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, spent the 2016 season at Double-A Frisco in the Texas Rangers’ farm system. He batted .269 with 111 hits, 52 RBIs and 41 runs scored in 113 games.
The Kansas City Royals selected Jackson in the 50th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Mauldin (S.C.) High School. Instead of signing, Jackson attended The Citadel before the Rangers selected him in the fifth round of the 2013 draft. In four professional seasons, Jackson is a .278 hitter with 372 hits, 79 doubles, 10 triples, 23 home runs, 199 RBIs and 169 runs scored in 354 games.
“We’re excited to have Joe on board to help us in the 2017 season,” said T-Bones manager Joe Calfapietra.
Even though “Shoeless” Joe batted .375 with 12 hits, six RBIs and no errors during the 1919 World Series, MLB Commissioner Kennesaw “Mountain” Landis banned Jackson and seven other White Sox from playing professionally after they were accused of conspiring to throw the Series.
The T-Bones open the 2017 regular season at home on May 19 against Lincoln.
A Kansas City, Kansas, driver was injured on Saturday, May 6, after swerving to avoid hitting a bumper on eastbound I-70 near the I-635 exit.
According to a Kansas Turnpike Authority trooper’s report, the driver hit the barrier wall after swerving to avoid the bumper in the road. The accident happened around 3:45 p.m.
The driver of the Jeep Commander, a 32-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, woman, was injured and taken to the hospital, the report stated.
Somewhere under a dog pile of jubilant Blue Devils is L.A. Woodard, whose one-out double scored Drew Holtgrieve all the way from first base to give KCKCC a 7-6 ninth-inning win over Garden City Sunday. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins) by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
L.A. Woodard may not be able to forecast the future but he delivered with what he envisioned Sunday – a ringing double to the right-centerfield gap that scored Drew Holtgrieve all the way from first base to give Kansas City Kansas Community College a heart-stopping 7-6 Region VI playoff win over Garden City.
“I was visualizing it (the hit) since they scored four runs,” said Woodard, a sophomore shortstop from Nashville, Tenn., who was piled on by jubilant teammates. “It was the place (at bat) I wanted to be. It was the biggest hit of my life, for sure. It was a fast ball (on a 2-2 count) away and I went with it. The last four weeks I’ve been getting doubles and triples with two strikes.”
“L.A. is a game-changing player,” said KCKCC coach Matt Goldbeck, whose Blue Devils now advance to the opening round of the 8-team super-regional in Wichita Friday that will send the winner to the NJCAA World Series. The Blue Devils will take a 40-19 record into the tourney, Goldbeck’s second 40-win in his two seasons as head coach.
The win came after the Blue Devils had let a 6-2 lead get away in the top of the eighth inning. Capitalizing on three walks, the Broncbusters tied it on a 2-out, 3-run double by Ty Lightly off relief ace Julian Rivera and it took a great throw by leftfielder Josh Schumacher and tag by Holtgrieve at the plate that prevented Garden City from taking a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth.
It was the second Broncbuster to be thrown out at the plate. Rightfielder Chase Redick cut down Jesse Gonzales with a perfect throw to save a run in the sixth inning.
“Chase’s throw was right on the money; Josh’s was up the line a little and he collided with me,” said Holtgrieve, who held onto the ball despite being knocked backwards.
“That play was huge, it really gave me a lift,” said Cam Bednar, who got the win by stranding base-runners in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings. Bednar also pitched two scoreless innings in KCKCC’s 13-3 win on Friday.
“This team has been resilient all year long no matter what adversity they might run into,” Goldbeck said. “Julian (Rivera) has been so good all year and the guys picked him up and then Cam Bednar really stepped up and gave us a chance to win. Garden City is a very good baseball team and if it weren’t for a couple of great throws by Chase and Josh it could have easily been different. ”
The Blue Devils also got an outstanding pitching performance from sophomore starter Chad Cox, who limited Garden City to just two runs and seven hits over the first six innings. Cox departed after giving up a single and a walk to start the eighth only to have Rivera walk two men to force in a run and then surrender the base-clearing double down the line that tied it.
KCKCC nearly won on the first pitch on the ninth inning, a line shot down the leftfield line off the bat of Brandon Green that Goldbeck thought might have been a game-ending home run but the umpires ruled differently.
The Blue Devils did get one home run. Tyler Pittman greeted reliever Dillan Feurstein with a 2-run shot over the 375-foot mark following a two-out Woodard single that increased KCKCC’s lead to 6-1 in the fourth inning.
Woodard provided the big blow in KCKCC’s 4-run second inning, a 2-run single. Singles by Rorey Combs and Easton Fortuna ignited the rally. Two errors scored one run and Holtgrieve walked with the bases-loaded for a second before Woodard’s hit. Woodard finished with three hits, Pittman and Combs two each for KCKCC, which was outhit 11-8.
Cox limited Garden City to one hit over the first three innings before the Broncbusters cut the KCKCC lead to 4-1 in the fourth on a walk and a Clint Allen’s double. Cox got out of a second and third jam in the fifth with a pair of strikeouts but the Broncbusters closed to 6-2 on a Rafael Villeis triple in the sixth. Cox allowed eight hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings. KCKCC catcher Drew Holtgrieve puts the tag on Garden City’s Jesse Gonzales on a perfect throw from rightfielder Chase Redick to save a fourth-inning run, one of two Broncbusters thrown out at home Sunday – the other by leftfielder Josh Schumaker in the ninth inning. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins) While Garden City outfielders chase down L.A. Woodard’s game-winning double in the bottom of the ninth, KCKCC’s Drew Holtgrieve headed for home in the 7-6 win Sunday. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins) KCKCC centerfielder Tyler Pittman prepares to get a handshake from Blue Devils manager Matt Goldback on his 2-run home run that gave KCKCC a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning against Garden City Sunday. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)
