Exploring Life & Business with Dan Wallach of The Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Wallach. 

Hi Dan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Chicago as a White Sox fan. I grew up watching the movies Eight Men Out and Field of Dreams, which each came out a couple years after I was born. I’ve always loved baseball history, and the story of Joe Jackson and the Black Sox scandal was always very interesting to me, as a Sox fan. 

My parents retired and moved to Travelers Rest in 2009, so I went to visit them in their new house. It was soon after the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library opened, so we decided we would go check it out. We fell in love immediately. I happened to be there a few days before the inaugural Vintage Base Ball Games between the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and the Ty Cobb Museum from Royston, Georgia, so I was lucky enough to be able to play in that game. 

There were descendants from each player who either played in the game or attended. There were researchers, historians, and experts from all over the country. It just felt like a place where I belonged. So, every year, I made that my excuse to come visit my parents, so I could play in the annual vintage games. 

After about a decade of doing that, the original curator of the museum was getting ready to retire, so the Board of Directors asked me if I wanted to move to South Carolina full time and take over the museum. I said yes, and here we are! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been the smoothest road, no. 

I moved to Greenville the first week of March 2020, and four days later the whole world shut down. Our museum temporarily closed on December 8, 2019, so our building could be moved and we were having an addition built. What was supposed to be a five-month process turned into 19 months, thanks to construction delays and coronavirus. The first year and a half was incredibly challenging, trying to make it all work. 

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, it was certainly a struggle financially to stay afloat. But now that things are back open, and we have an addition which doubled our size and has allowed us to expand our gift shop and displays to include more than we ever had the space for previously, we are set up for a very bright future. 

That’s a good lesson, though. Not everything is always going to be easy. But if you truly believe in the work you’re doing, then keep doing it. If it’s meant to be, things will fall into place. But you’ve got to put in the work. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am the Executive Director of our museum and am responsible for the day-to-day operations. Joe was a very famous baseball player from Greenville who played in the Major Leagues from 1908 until 1920 and has the 4th highest batting average in the history of the sport. Unfortunately, his connection to the 1919 Chicago White Sox team which threw the World Series eventually led to his banishment from baseball. 

Joe started working in the cotton mills of Greenville at the age of 6, so he never had a chance to attend school, or learn to read or write. His illiteracy didn’t keep him from having a successful or happy life, but it certainly had negative effects on his life. With that as Joe’s backstory, one of our main goals at the museum is to promote literacy. We just recently launched a literacy program where we are installing community book boxes all over Greenville, in Joe’s name. We’re very proud to be making a difference in the community. 

We know that the museum hasn’t always been easy to visit, but that is something that has changed in the past six months. Since we reopened on June 25, our hours have greatly expanded. During the baseball season, we are open 7 days a week, from 11 am to 7 pm every day. When the Greenville Drive have a home game at Fluor Field (which is right across the street from our museum), we even stay open through the end of the game. During the off-season, we close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but remain open 11 am to 7 pm every other day. This has allowed thousands of people to experience and enjoy our museum in the first 5+ months of us being reopen. 

In addition to our expanded hours, we have really turned our focus to thoroughly and accurately telling Joe’s story. There are so many myths associated with Joe’s story and the story of the Black Sox scandal. Myths which have been perpetuated by popular movies like Field of Dreams and Eight Men Out, and even the Ken Burns documentary on Baseball. Thanks to the exhaustive research which has been done in the past 20 years, we now know more about Joe and the Black Sox scandal than we’ve ever known before, and we’re always learning more. But our museum is more than just a baseball museum. We have made it a point to include lots of Greenville history, too, and to tell the story of Joe’s wife, Katie, who was Joe’s soulmate. 

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Talk to everyone. But more than just talking to everyone, be kind to everyone. Everyone! 

I’m lucky in that I meet dozens of new people every day who come into the museum and share a passion for what I do. But even for someone who isn’t in my position, it’s great advice. You never know who is going to walk in your door and give you some wisdom which could change your life. You never know who knows someone who might be able to help you down the road. 

If you are kind to people, they will remember that. If you are rude to people, they’ll remember that, too. So be kind, and trust that the help you will eventually need at some point will be there. 

Another thing I do (and this may seem silly or old-fashioned in the 2020s, but it has worked wonders for me) is to keep a handful of business cards on me at all times. You never know who you’re going to run into, so being able to just hand someone a card with your contact information is a very quick, easy way to leave a good impression. Can you sit there and have someone enter your phone number or email address into their phone? Sure. But realistically, how often does that work where someone will actually follow up? I’ve found that by giving business cards, that person will not only save my information in their own system, but they often times pass my card or contact info along to someone else who they think should have it, too. 

But again, they’re only going to do that if you’re kind, and if you take the initiative to talk to them and engage them in the first place. Sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone to have those conversations, but once you have a few, they all get easier. Never be afraid to ask someone for help if you think they can help you. Just remember that you have to be there for the people who will eventually be asking you for help, too. 

Pricing:

• $50 and up – memberships to our museum
• $25 – most T-shirts in our museum
• $25 – most hats in our museum
• $15 – mini baseball bats
• FREE – admission to our museum

Contact Info:

• Email: info@shoelessjoejackson.org
• Website: www.shoelessjoejackson.org
• Instagram: instagram.com/shoelessmuseum
• Facebook: facebook.com/shoelessmuseum
• Twitter: twitter.com/shoelessmuseum
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFeQrt7UqVLpauPkDqyTKmA/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-shoeless-joe-jackson-museum-and-baseball-library-greenville
• Other: www.shoelesspodcast.com

Image Credits
Jason N.A. Smith
Dan Wallach