Black Sox Scandal

1919 Chicago White Sox team photo

The Black Sox Scandal refers to a number of events that took place around and during the play of the 1919 World Series. The name "Black Sox" also refers to the Chicago White Sox team from that year. Eight members of the Chicago franchise were banned for life from baseball for throwing (intentionally losing) games, giving the victory to the Cincinnati Reds. The conspiracy was the brainchild of White Sox first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil, who had longstanding ties to petty underworld figures. He persuaded Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, a friend and professional gambler, that the fix could be pulled off. New York gangster Arnold Rothstein supplied the money, through his lieutenant Abe Attell, a former featherweight boxing champion.

Gandil enlisted several of his teammates, motivated by a dislike of penurious club owner Charles Comiskey, to implement the fix. All of them were members of a faction on the team that resented the better-educated and higher-paid players on the team, such as second baseman Eddie Collins, catcher Ray Schalk, and pitcher Red Faber. By most contemporary accounts, the two factions almost never spoke to each other on or off the field, and the only thing they had in common was a resentment of Comiskey.^[1]

Starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams, outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, and shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg were all principally involved with Gandil. Third baseman Buck Weaver was also asked to participate, but refused. Weaver was later banned with the others for knowing of the fix but not reporting it. Although he hardly played in the series, utility infielder Fred McMullin was not initially approached, but got word of the fix and threatened to report the others unless he was in on the payoff. Outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was also mentioned as a participant, though his involvement is disputed.

Stories of the Black Sox scandal have usually included Comiskey in its gallery of subsidiary villains, focusing in particular on his intentions regarding a clause in Cicotte's contract that would have paid Cicotte an additional $10,000 bonus for winning 30 games. According to Eliot Asinof's account of the events, Eight Men Out, Cicotte was "rested" for the season's final two weeks after reaching his 29th win, presumably to deny him the bonus. However, the record is perhaps more complex. Cicotte won his 29th game on September 19, had an ineffective start on September 24, and was pulled after a few innings in a tuneup on the season's final day, September 28 (the World Series beginning 3 days later). Reportedly, Cicotte agreed to the fix on the same day he won his 29th game, before he could have known of any efforts to deny him a chance to win his 30th.^[2]

The Series

Even before the Series started on October 1, there were rumors among gamblers that the series was fixed, and a sudden influx of money being bet on Cincinnati caused the odds against them to fall rapidly. These rumors also reached the press box where a number of correspondents, including Hugh Fullerton of the Chicago Herald and Examiner and ex-player and manager Christy Mathewson, resolved to compare notes on any plays and players that they felt were questionable. Despite the rampant rumors, gamblers continued to wager heavily against the White Sox. On the second pitch of the Series, Eddie Cicotte struck Cincinnati leadoff hitter Morrie Rath in the back, signaling the players' willingness to go through with the fix.^[3]

The extent of Jackson's participation in the conspiracy remains controversial. Jackson maintained that he was innocent. He had a Series-leading .375 batting average, claimed to have thrown out five baserunners, and handled thirty chances in the outfield with no errors during that series. However, he batted far worse in the five games that the White Sox lost, with a batting average of .286 in those games. Three of his six RBIs came in the losses, all from a home run and a double in game 8, when the Reds had a large lead and the series was all but over. Still, in that game a long foul ball was caught at the fence with runners on second and third, depriving Jackson of a chance to drive in the runners. Statistics also show that in the other games that the White Sox lost, only five of Jackson's at-bats came with a man in scoring position, and he advanced the runners twice.

Jackson, generally considered a strong defensive player, was unable to prevent a critical two-run triple to left during the series. (In fact, during the series three triples were hit to left where Jackson was playing, despite the fact that most triples get hit to right or right-center.) Jackson told sportswriter Westbrook Pegler that he had "only poked at the ball" during many World Series at-bats. Most damningly, Jackson admitted under oath to accepting $5,000 from the gamblers.^[4] One play in particular has been subjected to much scrutiny. In the fifth inning of game 4, with a Cincinnati player on second, Jackson fielded a single hit to left field and threw home. The run scored and the White Sox lost the game 2-0. Chick Gandil, another leader of the fix, later admitted to yelling at Cicotte to intercept the throw.^[5] Cicotte, whose guilt is undisputed, made three errors in that fifth inning alone.

Another argument, presented in the book Eight Men Out, is that because Jackson was illiterate, he had little awareness of the seriousness of the plot, and thus he consented to it only when Risberg threatened him and his family.

However, years later, all of the implicated players said that Jackson was never present at any of the meetings they had with the gamblers. Lefty Williams, Jackson's roommate, later said that they only brought up Jackson in hopes of giving them more credibility with the gamblers.^[3]

Williams, one of the "Eight Men Out", lost 3 games, a Series record. Dick Kerr, who was not part of the fix, won both of his starts. Cicotte bore down and won Game 7 of the best-5-of-9 Series, angry that the gamblers were now reneging on their promises, as they claimed that all the money was in the hands of bookies. Reportedly the eight players were told to lose Game 8 "or else", and they were trounced by the Reds to end the Series.

Fallout

The rumors dogged the club throughout the 1920 season, as the White Sox battled the Cleveland Indians for the AL pennant that year, and stories of corruption touched players on other clubs as well. At last, in September 1920, a grand jury was convened to investigate.

During the investigation two players, Eddie Cicotte and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, confessed. On the eve of their final season series, the White Sox were in a virtual tie for first place with the Cleveland Indians. The Sox would need to win all 3 and then hope for Cleveland to stumble, as the Indians had more games in hand. Despite the season being on the line, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey suspended the seven White Sox still in the majors (Arnold "Chick" Gandil had left the team and was playing semi-pro ball). He said that he had no choice but to suspend them, even though this action likely cost the White Sox the pennant. The White Sox lost 2 of 3 in their final series against the St. Louis Browns, and those two losses made the difference, as they finished in second place, two games behind Cleveland.

Prior to the trial, key evidence went missing from the Cook County Courthouse, including the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson, who subsequently recanted their confessions. The players were acquitted. Some years later, the missing confessions reappeared in the possession of Comiskey's lawyer.^[6]

However, the majors were not so forgiving. The damage to the sport's reputation led the owners to appoint Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first Commissioner of Baseball. The day after the players were acquitted, Landis issued his own verdict:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.

With this statement, all eight implicated White Sox were banned from Major League Baseball for life, as were two other players believed to be involved. With seven of their best players permanently sidelined in their prime, the White Sox crashed into seventh place in 1921 and would not be a factor in a pennant race again until 1936, five years after Comiskey's death. They would not win another American League pennant until 1959 (a then-record forty-year gap) nor another World Series until 2005, prompting some to speculate about a Curse of the Black Sox.

After being banned, Risberg and several other members of the Black Sox tried to organize a three-state barnstorming tour. However, they were forced to scuttle those plans after Landis let it be known that anyone who played with or against them would be banned from baseball for life. They then announced plans to play a regular exhibition game every Sunday in Chicago, but the Chicago City Council threatened to cancel the license of any ballpark that hosted them.^[3]

The banned players

• Eddie Cicotte, pitcher, died on May 5, 1969, had the longest life; living to the age of 84. Admitted involvement in the fix.
• Oscar "Happy" Felsch, center fielder, died on August 17, 1964, at 72.
• Arnold "Chick" Gandil, first baseman. The leader of the players who were in on the fix. He did not play in the majors in 1920, playing semi-pro ball instead. In 1956, he expressed remorse for the fix, but claimed that he and his colleagues abandoned it and kept the money after rumors spread that the fix was in. He died on December 13, 1970, at 82.
• "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. The star outfielder, one of the best hitters in the game, confessed to accepting money from the gamblers. He later recanted his confession and protested his innocence to no effect until his death on December 5, 1951, at 63. He was the first of the eight to die. Years later, the other players all said that Jackson had never been involved in any of the meetings with the gamblers, and other evidence has since surfaced that casts doubt on his role.^[3]
• Fred McMullin, utility infielder. McMullin would not have been included in the fix had he not overheard player conversations. He threatened to tell all if not included. His impact as team scout may have had more impact on the fix, since he saw minimal playing time in the series. He died on November 21, 1952, at 61.
• Charles "Swede" Risberg, shortstop. Risberg was Gandil's assistant. He lived on until October 13, 1975, his 81st birthday, the last survivor of the eight.
• George "Buck" Weaver, third baseman. Weaver attended the initial meetings, and while he did not go in on the fix, he knew about it. Landis banished him on this basis, stating "Men associating with crooks and gamblers could expect no leniency." On January 13, 1922, Weaver unsuccessfully applied for reinstatement. Like Jackson, Weaver continued to profess his innocence to successive Baseball Commissioners to no effect. He died on January 31, 1956, at 65.
• Claude "Lefty" Williams, pitcher. 0–3 with a 6.63 ERA for the series. Only one other pitcher in the entire history of baseball - George Frazier of the 1981 New York Yankees - has ever lost three games in one World Series. Frazier, presumably, was not trying to lose them. Williams died on November 4, 1959, at 66.

Also banned was Joe Gedeon, second baseman for the St. Louis Browns. Gedeon placed bets since he learned of the fix from Risberg, a friend of his. He informed Comiskey of the fix after the Series in an effort to gain a reward. He was banned for life by Landis along with the eight White Sox.^[7]

Origin of "Black Sox"

Although many believe the Black Sox name to be related to the dark and corrupt nature of the conspiracy, the term "Black Sox" may already have existed before the fix. There is a story that the name "Black Sox" derived from parsimonious owner Charles Comiskey's refusal to pay for the players' uniforms to be laundered, instead insisting that the players themselves pay for the cleaning.^[8][9] As the story goes, the players refused and subsequent games saw the White Sox play in progressively filthier uniforms as dust, sweat and grime collected on the white, woolen uniforms until they took on a much darker shade.

On the other hand, Eliot Asinof in his book Eight Men Out makes no such connection, referring early on to filthy uniforms but referring to the term "Black Sox" only in connection with the scandal.

In popular culture

Eliot Asinof's book Eight Men Out is the best-known history of the scandal. Director John Sayles' film based on Asinof's book is a dramatization of the scandal, focusing largely on Buck Weaver as the one banned player who did not take any money. It stars John Cusack as Weaver, David Strathairn as Eddie Cicotte, D.B. Sweeney as Joe Jackson, and Sayles himself as then-sportswriter Ring Lardner—to whom Sayles bears a near-exact resemblance.

The 1952 novel, The Natural, and its 1984 filmed dramatization The Natural, were inspired significantly by the events of the scandal.

W.P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe is the story of an Iowa farmer who builds a baseball field in his cornfield after hearing a mysterious voice; Shoeless Joe Jackson and other members of the Black Sox come to play on his field. The novel was adapted into the hit film Field of Dreams. Also, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, a minor character named Meyer Wolfsheim was said to have helped in the Black Sox scandal, though this is purely fictional. In explanatory notes accompanying the novel's 75th anniversary edition, editor Matthew Bruccoli describes the character as being directly based on Arnold Rothstein.

In Dan Gutman's novel Shoeless Joe & Me, the protagonist, Joe, goes back in time to try to prevent Shoeless Joe from being banned for life.

Also, in the film The Godfather Part II, the fictional gangster Hyman Roth alludes to the scandal when he says, "I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series in 1919."

Jonathan Coulton wrote a song titled Kenesaw Mountain Landis where Landis is a vigilante who "was seventeen feet tall, he had a hundred and fifty wives" who shoots off Shoeless Joe's middle finger during the World Series game. The real Landis was the first Major League Baseball commissioner.

86 Years Later

In 2005, 86 years after the Black Sox Scandal took place, the White Sox "reversed" the Black Sox Curse by winning the 2005 World Series, their first Series title since 1917. White Sox center fielder Aaron Rowand, in an interview for the official World Series film DVD, compared the 2004 Red Sox with the 2005 White Sox: "If they could break their 'curse', so could we."

See also

• 1919 World Series
• Major League Baseball scandals
• Hugh Fullerton
• Curse of the Black Sox

Citations

Sources

• Chicago Historical Society: Black Sox
• Famous American Trials: The Black Sox Trial
• Asinof, Eliot. Eight Men Out. New York: Henry Holt. 1963. ISBN 0-8050-6537-7.
• Ginsburg, Daniel E. The Fix Is In: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game Fixing Scandals. McFarland and Co., 1995. 317 pages. ISBN 0-7864-1920-2.
• Pietrusza, David Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series, New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3

External links

• chicagohs.org Chicago Historical Society on the Black Sox
• Eight Men Out - IMDb page on the 1988 movie, written and directed by John Sayles based on Asinof's book
• baseball-reference.com Box scores and info on each game