An article in Chicago Lawyer (which I spotted not by reading lawyer magazines, but through Hardball Times) makes the case that Shoeless Joe Jackson was not complicit in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Or at least, that the evidence is not there, and that the "definitive" book Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof is not so definitive.
Asinof has admitted to adding a couple of fictional characters, "designed to prevent screenwriters from stealing the story and claiming their material was from the public domain". A key incident, where a mob thug threatens star pitcher Lefty Williams, is fabricated.
"Asinof ... never read, or had access to, the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings".
Based on this information, Eight Men Out was not written as a factual, heavily footnoted historical treatise, but was intended as a dramatic popular "history" account, with a clear eye on making money from a movie.
For some pro-Joe Jackson information, check out BlackBetsy.com. His Grand Jury testimony is confusing - he admits to taking money to throw games, but claims he took no actions to actually throw the games.
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