Back Then, They Didn’t Juice the Ball or Body

Joe Anders, 84, was in his early teens living in Greenville, S.C., when Shoeless Joe Jackson came home to Greenville for good. Anders met Jackson and a friendship developed.

Anders, recalling the time Jackson introduced him to Ty Cobb, told the Chicago Tribune: “Joe said, ‘I want you to meet the greatest hitter who ever played the game of baseball. This is Ty Cobb.’

“Cobb immediately said, ‘No. Joe Jackson is the greatest hitter to ever play the game of baseball because he could hit a dead ball better than Babe Ruth could hit a live ball.’ ”

Trivia time: Where did the nickname “Shoeless” come from?

A good arm too: “I saw the trophy [Jackson] won in a heaving contest in Chicago,” Anders told the Tribune. “Heaving is what they called throwing in those days, and he threw the ball 396 feet 8 inches.”

Age no hindrance: Jackson, who died in 1951 at 62, was asked to pinch-hit for each team in an all-star game in Greenville when he was 56, according to Anders.

“Joe stepped to the plate and on the first pitch, he hits it off the center-field fence 415 feet away,” Anders said. “Then he came back and did it again. And he had already had a couple of heart attacks by then.”

Which is it? Last Thursday, the Newark (N.J.) Star Ledger reported: “Disgruntled and dysfunctional wide receiver Terrell Owens to the Jets? Don’t dismiss the idea that the team could make a bid for the talented-but-troubled Owens when the Eagles jettison him, as expected, following the season, according to a person with knowledge of the Jets’ thinking.”

The same day, the New York Daily News reported: “Although it makes for titillating talk-show fodder, the Jets have no plans to pursue the Eagles’ disgruntled star, according to a person with knowledge of the Jets’ thinking.”

Guaranteed to happen: Former NFL coach Dave Wannstedt, for one, is convinced another team will sign Owens.

Wannstedt, now the University of Pittsburgh coach, told Fox Sports radio: “Everybody thinks, ‘Hey, if I get this guy I’ll coach him better.’ Or, ‘If I get this guy, he’ll change his stripes when I get a hold of him.’ That doesn’t happen very often. We all get tricked into those scenarios.”

Looking back: On this day in 1993, No. 2 Notre Dame, coached by Lou Holtz, beat No. 1 Florida State, 31-24. The game ended as Seminole quarterback Charlie Ward’s desperation pass was knocked down at the goal line.

Trivia answer: The nickname is credited to Scoop Latimer, a writer for the Greenville News. Jackson earned the nickname when he was playing for a mill team in the community of Brandon, S.C. Breaking in a new pair of shoes, Jackson developed blisters, took off his shoes and played in his stocking feet.

And finally: John Schuerholz, 65-year-old general manager of the Atlanta Braves, to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on all his 30-something counterparts at the winter GM meetings: “I’m like Obi-Wan Kenobi in a room of Luke Skywalkers.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.