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Travis Jackson

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Travis Jackson was born on November 2, 1903, in Waldo, Arkansas and died on July 27, 1987, in Waldo, Arkansas. His height is five feet ten and half inch with weight 160 pounds. He was inducted with the Hall of Fame in 1982.

Jackson was the first of John McGraw's final generation of great rookies. Succeeding Dave Bancroft at shortstop in 1924, the Arkansan was soon joined by Bill Terry, Freddie Lindstrom and Mel Ott as key players on Giant pennant winners of the 1930s. Jackson was a strong-armed with good range, as indicated by rankings in the top dozen for lifetime per-game putouts, assists and chances. He led NL, national league shortstops with 58 errors as a rookie in 1924, but twice led in fielding average, twice in double plays and four times in assists. In 1934, with knee injuries lessening his mobility, he played his last season leading the NL with 43 errors. He moved to third base for his last two seasons.

Though generally batting around the sixth spot in the Giants' lineup, he was a keen bunter and a consistent righthanded hitter who had the measure of the short Polo Grounds fences. He batted over .300 six times, peaking at 0.339 in 1930. His 21 HR home runs in 1929 were a career high, as were his 101 RBI in 1934. After his playing days, he coached for the Giants and managed a dozen minor league clubs.

Travis Jackson was the hustling captain and clutch-hitting shortstop on John McGraw's Giants teams of the 1920s, playing through the mid-1930s. His outstanding arm, exceptional range and quick release earned him great respect in the field. Nicknamed Stonewall, after the Civil War general and for the wall of defense he supplied at shortstop, he also hit 135 home runs and compiled six 0.300-plus seasons at the plate.

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