Louis Clarence Jackson (July 26, 1935 – May 27, 1969) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. Jackson, an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

between and , appearing in 34

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

over parts of three seasons in the Majors for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, and in 329 games over three seasons in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for the Sankei Atoms. He attended

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African ...

, threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed at tall and .

Chicago Cubs

Jackson was originally signed by the Cubs in as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. That season, he played for the

class-C Class C may refer to: * Class-C amplifier, a category of electronic amplifier * Class C (baseball), a defunct class in minor league baseball in North America * Class C stellar classification for a carbon star * Class C drugs, under the Misuse of Dru ...

Magic Valley Cowboys, batting .310 with 15 home runs. The following season, he was moved up to the class-A

Pueblo Dodgers The Pueblo Dodgers were a Class A minor league baseball team that was located in Pueblo, Colorado and played in the Western League from 1947 to 1958. History An affiliate of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1947-1957 and the Chicago Cubs (195 ...

, and made his major league debut in July. He played 24 games for the Cubs, with just 6 hits in 35 at-bats, including his first and only major league home run off

Ray Semproch Roman Anthony Semproch (January 7, 1931 – October 27, 2024), also known as Baby and Ray, was an American right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1958 to 1961 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Ange ...

of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

on August 3, 1958."Cubs at Phillies, Sunday, August 3, 1958

Connie Mack Stadium Shibe Park ( , rhymes with "vibe"), known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) from 1909 to 1954 and the Philadelphia Phillies of the Natio ...

." ''www.baseballreference.com.'' Retrieved November 28, 2016. In , Jackson spent most of the season back in the minors, most of it with the class-A

Lancaster Red Roses The Lancaster Red Roses baseball team, originally known as the Maroons, changed its name at the start of the 1906 season during a bitter match with the York, Pennsylvania-based White Roses. Some sources indicate that the rival teams were named f ...

. He did play in 6 games for the Cubs that September, but had just four at-bats. During the offseason, he was traded with two other players to the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

for

Frank Thomas Frank Edward Thomas Jr. (born May 27, 1968), nicknamed "the Big Hurt," is an American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for three American League (AL) teams from 1990 to ...

. Jackson wound up spending just one season in the Cincinnati organization before being acquired by the independent

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

. After one season with Maple Leafs, he was picked up by the

Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were a Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Braves. After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966 they were rename ...

. He lasted just a single season with the Braves, and spent with the Washington Senators organization.

Baltimore Orioles

After the 1963 season, he was drafted by the Orioles. He started the season with them, but played just four of the team's first 23 games. He spent the rest of 1964 and all of 1965 with the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

, the Orioles' top

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

club.

Japan

In 1966, Jackson signed with the Sankei Atoms. In his first season in Japan, he hit 20 home runs in 97 games, batting .254. In 1967, he improved to a .296 batting average, with 28 home runs. The following season, however, he slumped at the plate, hitting just .219, and one day collapsed at home plate while batting. He died the following year of

pancreatitis Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormone A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "se ...

at age 33.Moffi, Larry, and Jonathan Kronstadt
Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 1947-1959. p. 231.
. ''Google Books.'' Retrieved October 21, 2013.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Lou 1935 births 1969 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Louisiana Chicago Cubs players Deaths from pancreatitis Fort Worth Cats players Grambling State Tigers baseball players Havana Sugar Kings players Hawaii Islanders players Jersey City Jerseys players Lancaster Red Roses players Magic Valley Cowboys players Major League Baseball outfielders People from Caldwell Parish, Louisiana Pueblo Dodgers players Rochester Red Wings players Sankei Atoms players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba