| 1919 Chicago White Sox American League Champions |
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| 1919 Information | ||
| Owner(s) | Charles Comiskey | |
| Manager(s) | Kid Gleason | |
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The 1919 Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in the American League. They won 88 games to advance to the World Series but lost to the Cincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return for throwing the series. The "Black Sox Scandal" had permanent ramifications for baseball, including the establishment of the office of Commissioner of Baseball. Two of the best players in the game, knuckleballer Eddie Cicotte and slugger Joe Jackson, had their careers cut short as a result of their involvement in the fix.
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In 1919, Cicotte led the majors with 29 wins. Jackson hit .351 and headed an offense that scored the most runs of any team.
| American League | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | 88 | 62 | .629 | -- |
| Cleveland Indians | 84 | 55 | .604 | 3½ |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 59 | .576 | 7½ |
| Detroit Tigers | 80 | 60 | .571 | 8 |
| St. Louis Browns | 67 | 72 | .482 | 20½ |
| Boston Red Sox | 66 | 71 | .482 | 20½ |
| Washington Senators | 56 | 84 | .400 | 32 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 36 | 104 | .257 | 52 |
| 1919 Chicago White Sox | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders |
Outfielders | Manager | ||||||
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Ray Schalk | 131 | 394 | 111 | .282 | 0 | 34 |
| 1B | Chick Gandil | 115 | 441 | 128 | .290 | 1 | 60 |
| 2B | Eddie Collins | 140 | 518 | 165 | .319 | 4 | 80 |
| 3B | Buck Weaver | 140 | 571 | 169 | .296 | 3 | 75 |
| SS | Swede Risberg | 119 | 414 | 106 | .256 | 2 | 38 |
| LF | Joe Jackson | 139 | 516 | 181 | .351 | 7 | 96 |
| CF | Happy Felsch | 135 | 502 | 138 | .275 | 7 | 86 |
| RF | Nemo Leibold | 122 | 434 | 131 | .302 | 0 | 26 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred McMullin | 60 | 170 | 50 | .294 | 0 | 19 |
| Eddie Murphy | 30 | 35 | 17 | .486 | 0 | 5 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Cicotte | 40 | 306.2 | 29 | 7 | 1.82 | 110 |
| Lefty Williams | 41 | 297 | 23 | 11 | 2.64 | 125 |
| Red Faber | 25 | 162.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.83 | 45 |
| Bill James | 5 | 39.1 | 3 | 2 | 2.52 | 11 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickey Kerr | 39 | 212.1 | 13 | 7 | 2.88 | 79 |
| Grover Lowdermilk | 20 | 96.2 | 5 | 5 | 2.79 | 43 |
| Frank Shellenback | 8 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 5.14 | 10 |
| Erskine Mayer | 6 | 23.2 | 1 | 3 | 8.37 | 9 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Danforth | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7.78 | 17 |
| Joe Benz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
NL Cincinnati Reds (5) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago White Sox – 1, Cincinnati Reds – 9 | October 1 | Redland Field | 30,511 |
| 2 | Chicago White Sox – 2, Cincinnati Reds – 4 | October 2 | Redland Field | 29,690 |
| 3 | Cincinnati Reds – 0, Chicago White Sox – 3 | October 3 | Comiskey Park | 29,126 |
| 4 | Cincinnati Reds – 2, Chicago White Sox – 0 | October 4 | Comiskey Park | 34,363 |
| 5 | Cincinnati Reds – 5, Chicago White Sox – 0 | October 6 | Comiskey Park | 34,379 |
| 6 | Chicago White Sox – 5, Cincinnati Reds – 4 (10 innings) | October 7 | Redland Field | 32,006 |
| 7 | Chicago White Sox – 4, Cincinnati Reds – 1 | October 8 | Redland Field | 13,923 |
| 8 | Cincinnati Reds – 10, Chicago White Sox – 5 | October 9 | Comiskey Park | 32,930 |
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 era. Eight members of the Chicago franchise were banned from baseball for throwing (intentionally losing) games.
The conspiracy was the brainchild of White Sox first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil and Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, who was a professional gambler of Gandil's acquaintance. New York gangster Arnold Rothstein supplied the major connections needed. The money was supplied by Abe Attell, former featherweight boxing champion, who accepted the offer even though he didn't have the $80,000 that the White Sox wanted.
Gandil enlisted seven of his teammates, motivated by a mixture of greed and a dislike of penurious club owner Charles Comiskey, to implement the fix. Starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams, outfielders "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Oscar "Happy" Felsch, and infielder Charles "Swede" Risberg were all involved. Buck Weaver was also asked to participate, but refused; he was later banned with the others for knowing of the fix but not reporting it. 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. Sullivan and his two associates, Sleepy Bill Burns and Billy Maharg, somewhat out of their depth, approached Rothstein to provide the money for the players, who were promised a total of $100,000.
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.
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| Preceded by Boston Red Sox 1918 |
American League Champions Chicago White Sox 1919 |
Succeeded by Cleveland Indians 1920 |