The 1919 Chicago White Sox seemed to be bidding for baseball greatness. World champions in 1917, they won the American League pennant two years later with a .629 percentage. The roster included future Hall of Famers catcher Ray Schalk and second baseman Eddie Collins, a 29-game winning pitcher, Eddie Cicotte, and a 23-game winner, Lefty Williams. Although the National League champions, the Cincinnati Reds, actually won eight more games than the Sox, the latter were the early favorites to win the World Series.
Some Unhappy Pennant Winners
What seems clear is that some of the Sox felt that club owner Charles Comiskey underpaid them. Cicotte had an even stronger complaint. Comiskey had promised him a $10,000 bonus if he won 30 games in 1919. But when he reached 29, Comiskey reportedly had him benched for the rest of the season so that he wouldn't earn the bonus.
The testimony indicates that first baseman Chick Gandil suggested to a gambling acquaintance of his that the favored Sox coukld arrange to lose the World Series. Word of this was passed on to major national gambling figures who provided the financing of the bribes. The eight players involved included, in addition to Gandil and Cicotte, pitcher Williams, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, outfielders Happy Felsch and Shoeless Joe Jackson, and utility infielder Fred McMullin.
The World Series
Although the World Series had been a best four-of-seven contest since 1905, the baseball establishment had revived the original best five-of-nine format for 1919. The Series opened in Cincinnati on October 1 with a 9-1 victory for the home team. Cicotte was knocked out in a five-run fourth inning. The following day, Williams gave up only four hits but managed to lose, 4-2.
In Game 3, rookie White Sox lefthander Dickey Kerr, uninvolved in the conspiracy, pitched a three-hit 3-0 shutout, but the Reds came back with two consecutive shutouts of their own to take a 4-1 lead. Cicotte and Williams were the losers again in those games but yielded only five and four hits, respectively. Kerr was back for another complete game win in Game 6 and Cicotte then beat the Reds, 4-1, to narrow the Reds' advantage to 4-3.
Any lingering doubts about the outcome ended early in Game 8. Williams was knocked out in a four-run first inning and the Reds took the Series with a 10-5 win.
The Investigation and Trial
In September of 1920, a Cook County, Illinois grand jury, ironically looking into accusations that the Windy City's other club, the Cubs, had thrown some games, received evidence about the 1919 Series. Called to testify, several of the Sox then gave detailed testimony about the plot, although they differed on who received payments and whether they deliberately played poorly. Jackson, who had hit .375 in the Series, and Weaver, a .324 batter then, admitted initial involvement but insisted that they had not gone along with the plan and fought their subsequent bans.
The eight "Black Sox" were indicted and banned for life from baseball by its new Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge appointed to restore faith in the integrity of the sport. They were tried in June-July 1921, but, curiously, the grand jury files could not be located. The players recanted their confessions and the jury acquitted them. Nevertheless, the bans were maintained because they had admitted to meeting with gamblers to discuss influencing the results of games. The missing files turned up, unexplained, three years later in the possession of an attorney for owner Comiskey.
Major league baseball attendance had peaked in 1920 at over nine million. Fears that the scandal might alienate fans were exacerbated when that figure went unmatched for the next three years. But Landis's reputation, his vigorous crackdown on associations with gamblers, and, perhaps even more significantly, the new era of home run hitting led by Babe Ruth, had fans setting new attendance records before the 1920's were half-over.
Sources:
chicagohs.org/history/blacksox
baseball-reference.com
baseball-almanac.com
David Hornestay - DavidH began a career as a freelancer after 34 years in government management. Keeping a hand in as a consultant in federal human ...
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