Michael L. Miller was born and raised in the Woodside Mill community on the west side of Greenville, South Carolina. Thanks to his proximity to Brandon Mill, which was where Shoeless Joe Jackson worked and honed his great baseball skills, Mike was well aware of Joe and his story from an early age. However, he became much more passionate when his own sons started playing baseball.

Mike’s interest really took off when he volunteered at the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library immediately after it first opened in 2008. His need for the details led him to perform extensive research into Joe’s professional baseball career, focusing on the years 1908 through 1920. That research continues to this day. In 2018, Mike published a 1,500 page online reference manual, appropriately titled Joe Jackson Baseball Reference Book.

Mike is the museum’s lead docent and has been an integral part of our museum since 2010. His hope is to see the wrong done unto Joe Jackson righted. Because Joe was a simple, kind, and goodhearted man who was unfairly treated by Major League baseball, Mike feels Joe’s ban should be immediately removed. 

“Joe’s treatment, from the very moment he entered the league in 1908, until the day he was banned in 1920, was unfair. Much of what happened was due to Joe’s lack of education due to his mill hill upbringing. In those days, gamblers worked hard to take control of the game. In his decision, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who wanted to remove gamblers from the game, banned Shoeless Joe and seven other Chicago White Sox players, even though all had been acquitted by a jury of twelve. I see no reason why Joe Jackson should be kept out of his beloved game.”

Mike and his wife, Debra, live in Easley, South Carolina. Their joy comes from their three children and their grandchildren. Mike has worked as a mechanical designer for over 35 years, starting in the textile industry and transitioning to packaging. Be sure to say hello when you visit the museum.