Larry Jackson was far more than a successful Major League Baseball pitcher. During an unusual career that stretched from the mound to the newsroom and eventually into Idaho politics, Jackson built a life that crossed three very different worlds. He competed against some of baseball’s greatest names, wrote about many of the same players he faced, and later entered public service in his home state.
That combination made Jackson unusual among professional athletes of his generation. While famous sportswriters such as Red Smith, Jim Murray and Shirley Povich built their reputations through their words, Jackson had an experience they could never completely duplicate: he did not simply write about stars such as Jackie Robinson—he actually pitched against them.
Jackson also understood pressure from both sides of the sports world. Facing a dangerous hitter in a Major League game could be intense, but his work as a newspaper reporter presented an entirely different challenge. After spending the spring and summer pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, Jackson would return to Boise during the winter, work at the Idaho Statesman and cover sporting events under tight deadlines. Some nights, he had to cover a basketball game that ended after 11 p.m., drive roughly 30 miles through difficult winter weather and still reach the newspaper office in time to meet a 1 a.m. deadline.
For eight winters during the 1950s, Jackson lived this unusual double life. He was a professional baseball player during the warmer months and a sports journalist during the offseason. At one point, he even became sports editor of the newspaper’s evening edition. Later, after his playing career ended, Jackson entered Idaho politics and served four terms in the state legislature.
His brother Dennis once explained that their mother believed people should participate in their communities rather than simply watch from the sidelines. That philosophy became a defining feature of Larry Jackson’s life. Whether he was pitching, writing or serving in government, he remained involved.
From Idaho Athlete to Professional Pitcher
Jackson was born in Nampa, Idaho, a railroad community in Canyon County that was also known for the Snake River Stampede Rodeo. When he was six years old, his family moved to Boise, where he grew up and developed his athletic ability.
His path to professional baseball was not completely straightforward. As a teenager, Jackson suffered blood poisoning, or sepsis, after a hike and swim. He recovered and continued developing as an athlete. At Boise Junior College, now Boise State University, he became the starting tailback on the football team. In baseball, he initially played shortstop before transitioning to pitching in American Legion and semiprofessional competition.
The St. Louis Cardinals eventually noticed him. Scout Ollie Vanek signed Jackson in 1951 for $5,500, a significant amount of money to the young Idaho athlete. At the time, Jackson was not even certain that professional baseball would become a long-term career.
His development accelerated after he reached Class C Fresno in 1952. Manager and catcher Roland LeBlanc helped him make the critical transition from simply throwing a baseball hard to actually understanding the craft of pitching. Jackson proved to be a quick learner, winning 28 regular-season games and four more during the playoffs.
As he progressed through the Cardinals’ farm system, Jackson refined a sinker and hard slider while developing a reputation for durability. He was the kind of pitcher who wanted to finish what he started, and his work ethic became one of his trademarks. The Sporting News eventually described the right-hander as a “stylish workaholic.”
A Major League Pitcher Who Gave the Dodgers Trouble
Jackson became one of a relatively small number of Idaho-born players to reach the Major Leagues. His name eventually joined those of other notable Idaho natives, including Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, Vern and Vance Law, and several players who would later wear Cardinals uniforms.
Jackson’s Major League debut came in April 1955 against the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals gave their young pitcher plenty of offensive support, scoring 10 runs in the opening inning, but Jackson still had to finish the job. He responded by pitching a four-hitter to earn his first Major League victory.
Only a month later, Jackson recorded his first shutout, and the accomplishment was particularly impressive because the opposing lineup included several future Hall of Famers and prominent stars. The Dodgers featured Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson.
The Dodgers would become one of Jackson’s favorite opponents—or at least one of the teams he handled particularly well. He repeatedly found ways to neutralize their dangerous lineup, with Duke Snider becoming one of his most notable victims.
On Aug. 4, 1958, Jackson defeated the Dodgers for the eighth consecutive time. He struck out 12 batters that night, including Snider four times. Over his career, Snider hit only .219 against Jackson and struck out 22 times.
Ironically, one of Jackson’s most memorable incidents involving Snider came away from the statistics. During a 1961 spring-training game, a splintered bat from Snider struck Jackson in the face and fractured his jaw.
During his eight seasons with the Cardinals, Jackson established himself as one of the club’s most dependable pitchers. Mostly working as a starter, he compiled a 101-86 record with 20 saves. Cardinals legend Stan Musial believed Jackson’s statistics did not fully reflect how valuable he had been to the organization, particularly because some of those teams were not especially strong.
After Jackson won 18 games in 1960, the Cardinals even explored using him in a blockbuster trade for Yankees stars Whitey Ford, Elston Howard and Ryne Duren, although New York rejected the proposal.
The Pitcher Who Also Became a Sportswriter
Long before Jackson became a newspaper columnist, he had developed a strong work ethic away from baseball. As a teenager, he worked a variety of jobs in Boise. He recalled working as a bellhop at the Idanha Hotel at age 14, while also taking on jobs such as chimney sweeping, furnace cleaning and painting highway signs.
When he entered professional baseball, Jackson wanted to find meaningful work during the offseason. That eventually led him to the Idaho Statesman.
He initially worked as a general helper in the sports department, but gradually earned opportunities to cover games and write columns. Jackson later admitted that it took him longer than some other reporters to complete stories and box scores, but he steadily developed into a legitimate sports journalist.
His position gave him an unusual perspective. He could report on athletes because he understood professional sports from the inside, but he could also analyze the game as a reporter. His column, “Jackson Jottings,” covered everything from baseball to bowling and fishing, although baseball remained his primary subject.
Among the players he wrote about was Jackie Robinson. Jackson’s comments showed respect for Robinson’s determination and ability while also reflecting the perspective of a player who had personally faced him on the field.
Jackson also wrote about Del Ennis after the Cardinals acquired the outfielder from Philadelphia. He questioned whether Ennis’ offensive production would compensate for his defensive limitations. Ennis answered that question with a productive 1957 season, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 105 runs.
Jackson even made predictions about the Cardinals. Before the 1957 season, he predicted that St. Louis was virtually certain to finish fourth but could potentially do better. The Cardinals exceeded even that expectation, finishing second with an 87-67 record.
Jackson’s unusual position as both pitcher and writer made him part of a fascinating Cardinals connection. Jim Brosnan, another Cardinals pitcher, was also writing about baseball during the same era. Brosnan would eventually become famous for his baseball books, including “The Long Season” and “Pennant Race.”
Together, Jackson and Brosnan represented an unusual combination of professional pitchers who could also chronicle the sport from a writer’s perspective.
A Career That Continued After St. Louis
Jackson’s Cardinals career ended in October 1962 when St. Louis traded him, Lindy McDaniel and Jimmie Schaffer to the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals received George Altman, Don Cardwell and Moe Thacker.
The trade ultimately produced different outcomes for the players involved. Jackson immediately established himself as an important member of the Cubs’ pitching staff. In 1964, he led the National League with 24 victories.
He later moved again, joining the Philadelphia Phillies in 1966. That season, at age 35, he won 15 games and recorded five shutouts. He remained productive well into his late 30s.
In his final Major League season in 1968, Jackson was 37 years old but still capable of carrying a heavy workload. He pitched 243⅔ innings and finished with a 2.77 ERA, an impressive final chapter to a long career.
Jackson wanted Philadelphia to trade him to a club closer to Idaho, but instead the Phillies exposed him to the expansion draft. The Montreal Expos selected him in October 1968. Rather than relocate to Montreal and continue playing, Jackson decided that his baseball career was over.
He finished with 194 Major League victories and a remarkable 21-2 career record against the New York Mets. From 1957 through 1968, he recorded at least 10 wins in every season and never finished a season in that stretch with fewer than 13 victories.
Although he never played for a pennant-winning team, his durability, consistency and longevity made him one of the most reliable pitchers of his era.
From Baseball to Idaho Politics
Retirement from baseball did not mean Jackson was ready to step away from public life. Back in Boise, he worked in several fields, including lobbying, public relations for a building-supplies company and insurance.
In 1971, he entered politics and ran for state office as a Republican. He won and eventually spent eight years in Idaho’s state legislature, representing the state’s most populous county.
His political career was shaped by the same independent streak that had characterized his baseball life. Jackson did not always fit comfortably within his party.
In 1978, he sought the Republican nomination for governor but faced opposition from a strongly conservative faction within the party. At the time, Idaho was experiencing a significant conservative political shift, and Jackson’s moderate position became a central issue.
One major dispute involved a proposal to sharply reduce property taxes. Jackson opposed the measure because he believed it would undermine funding for essential public services. He argued that government had important responsibilities involving education, police protection, water, highways and public health.
Jackson acknowledged that his political outlook could appear moderate in Idaho while looking conservative elsewhere. In an effort to appeal to conservative voters during his gubernatorial campaign, he even appeared in advertisements holding a hunting rifle alongside a message about reducing government spending.
The strategy was not enough to secure the Republican nomination. Jackson lost to Allan Larsen, who went on to face Democratic incumbent John Evans in the general election.
Jackson’s political independence became even more evident years later. In the 1986 Idaho governor’s race, he endorsed Democrat Cecil Andrus rather than the Republican nominee, David Leroy. His decision drew criticism from Republicans, but it reflected Jackson’s willingness to support a candidate based on his own political judgment rather than simply follow party lines.
A Remarkable Life Beyond the Baseball Diamond
Larry Jackson’s story stands out because his achievements were not confined to baseball. He was a Major League pitcher who won nearly 200 games, a newspaper writer who covered many of the same athletes he competed against, and a state legislator who remained active in Idaho public life.
His career also reflected a broader philosophy he learned from his family: participation mattered. Jackson did not simply watch events unfold around him. He repeatedly stepped into the action, whether that meant taking the mound against some of baseball’s greatest hitters, racing back to a newspaper office to meet a deadline or entering the political arena to serve his home state.
His baseball numbers remain impressive, particularly his 194 career victories, his remarkable record against the Mets and his long run of double-digit-win seasons. Yet his legacy is perhaps most distinctive because of everything he did away from the mound.
Jackson demonstrated that a professional athlete could successfully develop a second career in journalism and then transition into public service. His life was not defined by one profession or one achievement. Instead, it was a continuous progression from Idaho athlete to Cardinals pitcher, from pitcher to sportswriter, and from sportswriter to politician.
Former Idaho governor Cecil Andrus later remembered Jackson as someone who genuinely wanted to serve his state and who conducted himself with dignity and integrity. That assessment captures the unusual breadth of Jackson’s life: he competed at the highest level of baseball, chronicled sports from the press box and eventually entered politics, always maintaining a strong connection to Idaho.
For the Cardinals, Jackson remains an important part of the franchise’s history. For baseball history, he represents the rare athlete who understood the game both as a competitor and as a storyteller. And for Idaho, he became an example of an athlete who refused to simply stand on the sidelines once his playing days were over.
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